How Do You Make Hummingbird Food Safely?

A hummingbird feeder can help out your local birds (and allow you some prime birdwatching), but it's important to keep one safely and responsibly. Learn how to make hummingbird food with sugar and water, and keep a feeder clean, in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/hummingbird-food-recipe.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren Vogelbaum.
Here a hummingbird feeder can be a thrilling addition to
any summertime yard. Hummingbirds are vibrant, acrobatic little flyers that
evolved to eat a lot of natural nectar from flowers
to fuel their insanely high metabolism. After all, during flight,

(00:26):
they beat their wings an average of fifty times per second.
Flowers should provide their primary caloric source, along with a
few bugs that they pick off of leaves or snatch
from midair to fill out their complement of nutrients. You
can look up lists of native plants for your garden
to help attract and feed hummingbirds, but you can also
supplement their caloric needs by feeding hummingbirds with a well

(00:49):
placed sugar water feeder. Today, let's talk about how to
keep a hummingbird feeder that's both entertaining for you and
good for the birds. Sugar Water feeders are nice gesture
for your local hummingbirds. These vessels can help them get
through the times of year when there aren't as many
flowers around. However, since feeders are a huge draw for

(01:09):
these tiny birds, it's extremely important to keep them clean
and safe. Hummingbirds eat by lapping up liquid food at
lightning speed, using a flexible tongue that's so long that
it retracts in a coil that rests in their skull
around their eyes. Hummingbirds are attracted to the color red
because they associate red flowers with higher nutrient nectar. That's

(01:33):
why many sugar water feeders are made with red plastic pieces,
but this isn't a requirement, and red food coloring definitely
should not be used in the sugar water. Unfortunately, hummingbird
feeders are great places for bacteria and fungi to grow.
Of course, microbial communities are everywhere the sugar water. Hummingbird

(01:54):
feeders attract these same kinds of bacteria that you'd find
in flowers, in addition to a few more varieties. Most
won't cause disease in hummingbirds, but a small fraction of
them have been associated with a disease called candidiasis, a
fungal infection that's deadly in hummingbirds. It causes their tongue
to swell, making it impossible for the bird to eat.

(02:16):
But to prevent the possibility of spreading this disease through
your hummingbird feeders. It's necessary to clean your feeders regularly
with a non toxic cleaning product like weakened vinegar. Don't
do this in your kitchen where human food is prepared.
Birds can carry diseases that can make humans sick. Hummingbird
feeders should be cleaned every three to five days, or

(02:37):
more frequently in hot summer weather. Most feeders can be
completely disassembled so that they can be thoroughly cleaned inside
and out. Avoid using any kind of soaper detergent, though,
as those can leave a harmful residue. Hummingbird feeders should
contain only this homemade hummingbird food recipe, a mixture of

(02:57):
four parts of water to one part of her fire
white sugar. The sugar water should be boiled and then
cooled before adding it to the feeder. Irregular tapwater, well water,
or bottled spring water are all perfectly fine to use.
Although hummingbird feeders are completely safe and even helpful for
the birds, there are things that you definitely shouldn't do,

(03:19):
many of which have been offered as well meaning advice
in the past and since been scientifically disproven. So here
are some pointers don't use distilled water to make the food,
as it's stripped of natural minerals, and don't use water
processed through a water softener, as water softeners can add
certain salts and minerals that aren't good for the birds.

(03:42):
Don't add red food, coloring, or dyve any kind to
your recipe. It's not necessary to attract hummingbirds, and the
chemicals in the dye aren't good for the birds. In fact,
don't add anything to the water in your homemade nectar
except for that granulated white sugar. So do not add honey,
nor brown sugar, nor molasses, nor any sort of artificial sweetener.

(04:05):
A When mixed with water, honey and molasses can create
a breeding ground for potentially fatal bacteria and mold to grow. Again,
the best hummingbird nectar recipe is just one part granulated
white sugar mixed with four parts of clean water. Also,
don't spend your money on commercial hummingbird nectars. Many of

(04:25):
these concoctions contain preservatives, additives, and dyes that can harm
the birds. Using your own safe and inexpensive nectar recipe
means there's no reason to buy commercial ones. Finally, always
place your clean hummingbird feeder in a shady spot, preferably
in front of a windows that you can sit back
and enjoy the show while feeding these amazing birds safely.

(04:50):
Some hummingbirds do migrate, spending winters in warmer latitudes and
heading back into cooler areas to breed in the spring.
Research has shown that they can fly non stop for
over one thousand miles some one thousand, four hundred miles
to be slightly more exact, that's about two thousand, two
hundred kilometers as the hummingbird flies. That's the equivalent of

(05:10):
flying without a break from Atlanta to Albuquerque, from Beirut
to Budapest, or from Tokyo to Taipei, to give you
an idea to scale here. Full grown specimens of the
ruby throated hummingbird usually measure about three inches that's nearly
eight centimeters long, meaning that they can fly a mind
boggling twenty nine million times the length of their body

(05:34):
in one go. Relative to human body size. That'd be
like Superman leaping into the air and taking one and
a half trips around the globe before landing again. And
the furthest migrating hummingbirds travel some three thousand, five hundred
miles during each seasonal trip. That's about five thousand, six
hundred kilometers. Today's have pisode is based on the article

(06:01):
HOWD make Hummingbird food Safely and Responsively on HowStuffWorks dot com,
written by Jesslinshields. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in
partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com. It's produced by Tyler Klang.
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