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Please note
By not following the
instructions listed below you could be
responsible for giving hummers a serious and very deadly fungus
infection.
The painful fungus condition causes the tongue to
swell, making it impossible for the
hummers to eat. Ultimately, they
die of starvation, a slow and
painful death. |
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Temperature outside
If the weather is particularly cool it might be acceptable to wait slightly
longer than 3 days to clean the feeders. In hot weather (over 60
degrees f.), during which
pathogens in the feeding solution
can multiply rapidly, the feeders
should be cleaned every 2 days. After you have cleaned feeders,
refill them with fresh sugar solutions.
Sugar and water
solutions
are subject to rapid spoiling,
especially
in hot weather. Do not leave
sugar water
in a hummingbird feeder
longer than
48 hours when the
temperature is over 60 degrees f. |
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Cleaning Feeders
Successful feeding of hummingbirds
requires a commitment to maintaining clean feeders with fresh solutions. Unlike bird seed which, contained in shells, can last many weeks or longer if the birds do not eat it right away,
hummingbird sugar solution is a
liquid and is highly susceptible to
mold, harmful bacteria, or fermentation.
If you let this happen, you could be risking the health and possibly the lives of the
Hummingbirds that use your
feeder.
We can not emphasize enough how important it is to take feeder maintenance seriously. |
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Red
Food Dye
In 1975 the Federal Food and Drug
Administration took red food dye #
2 off the market because there was
a question about its safety for
human consumption. Consequently
many people are now choosing not to
use any red food dye in their
feeders. There is red on the
hummingbird feeders anyway, and
this should make them sufficiently
attractive to the birds.
Note:
She suggests you do not use Commercial Mixtures. |
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Clean Feeders every 2 to 3
Days
Wash feeders out in very hot water
every 2 to 3 days. You may add some
vinegar to the hot water to remove
mold, or, for really tough cleaning
jobs, use a tiny amount of Clorox,
making sure to rinse the feeder out
thoroughly when you are through.
If
you should find it necessary, scrub hard to reach spots with a bottle
brush or pipe cleaner. |
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Homemade
Sugar Solution Mixtures
Here is a recipe for making your
own mixture.
1 part sugar
(not honey)
4 parts water
Boil water for 1 to 2 minutes. cool and
store the extra in the refrigerator.
Why is this mixture attractive to the Hummingbirds ?
Table sugar is essentially a kind of sugar called
sucrose. Although Flower nectar
contains 3 types of sugar, sucrose,
glucose, and fructose. it is mostly sucrose.
Taste
test experiments with Anna's, Black - Chinned, and Rufous Hummingbirds revealed
that the sucrose was preferred over the other types of sugars. |
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Never Offer
Honey
Do not use honey or artificial
sweeteners in place of sugar when making a feeding solution.
Honey
ferments easily and can cause a
fungus that affects the hummingbirds tongue and can be fatal to the birds. Artificial sweeteners should be avoided for
they have no food value.
They do
not give the birds the calories
they need. |
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A Sweet Tooth
The concentration of the sugar is also important. We recommend a 1 to 4
ratio
of sugar to water because it
approximates
the ratio of sugar to water
found in the
nectar of many hummingbird Flowers.
A recent study of 21 native California
wild Flowers visited by hummingbirds
showed that their nectar had an average
sugar concentration of 21 percent. This is sweet enough to attract the
hummers without being too sweet.
If you increase the concentration of sugar, it may be harder for the birds to
digest. If you decrease the concentration, they may lose interest. Boiling the solution helps retard
fermentation. |
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Is
Sugar Enough ?
Some people worry that a sugar and
water solution is not nutritious
enough to meet hummingbirds needs.
It certainly gives them power for
their incredible acrobatics, but
they do need more than sugar.
Years ago, people who tried to rise
hummingbirds in captivity found
that the birds could not be
sustained on a diet of sugar water
alone.
Scientist today feed
hummingbirds in captivity vitamins,
minerals, fruit flies, and other
nutrients, as well as sugar and
water solutions. |
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Prevent Ant Problems
You can make a hanger
for your feeder with a piece of a
coat hanger. Hang the feeder in the shade and coat the wire
with Vaseline. |