Here at Cougar Ridge Ranch we feed thousands of hummingbirds from April to September and over the 25+ years we’ve worked out the kinks of what the birds want and more importantly need. We don’t supplement them with protein as they have all of the cedar gnats and mosquitoes. In fact this is most likely the reason they come here to raise their young as the protein is readily available and easy to acquire.
We go through 300-500 pounds of white sugar (about 20-25lb bags) each summer to feed all of the hungry little birds.
In this article I will give you the recipe’s that we use at the ranch as well as talk about repelling Ants, WHY’s (Wasps, Hornets and Yellow Jackets). I’ll also cover emulsifiers (mixing agents), Preservatives and Colorants. Plus I’ll teach you about the great DDT and Red Dye scares of the 1970’s through 1990’s and the rumors that persist from those non scientific days.
We also hang one feeder with plain water for those hummingbirds that just want a water drink.
They do drink from it but not as much.
We only have to fill it about every 2 weeks.
Preparing the Nectar
You’ll need WHITE processed sugar (not brown or raw). The standard white sugar which is not good for humans is great for hummingbirds and bees. It has fewer solids (solids make brown sugars brown) which can cause poor stool (poop) and even constipation which is deadly for bee’s and hummingbirds.
White sugar is very close to the same weight as water and has all of the carbohydrates that the birds need to sustain their tightly wound lifestyle. Water weighs about 8.3lbs per gallon and a 1 gallon container of white sugar will weight about 8lbs.
BOILING THE NECTAR
Never just mix the sugar and water. It is much better for the birds (and will last longer) if you will bring the mixture to a boil. You only need to get it to a rolling boil and its done (never put boiling nectar in your feeders,,, they will melt and the birds won’t touch it until it cooled down anyway).
Some people say that pouring the sugar into boiling water is good enough but we’ve found that when this practice is used, the sugar and water can separate and crystallize sooner than normal, so we bring the entire mixture to a boil.
You may not make it in the quantities that we make (we make 3-5 gallons every other day) so boiling should be rather easy for you.
HINT: Use half of the required water for the initial syrup. Bring it to a boil. Remove from heat and add the other half of the water to help cool it down faster.
—–THE RECIPES—–
Early and Late Summer Season for Hummingbirds
All summer for Bee’s
1:1 Nectar
Use: 1 level cup of water to 1 overflowing cup of sugar (this makes the weights very close). Bring to boil, cool and place in feeding stations.
WHEN TO USE THIS NECTAR
When the night temperatures are 45 or less we use a 1:1 nectar
The little birds need more sugar in their diet to help them make it through cool and cold nights. When the daytime temps are not seriously hot and the night time temps are low, the birds do better with a higher concentration of sugar in the nectar. They will be able to rest longer between feedings and make fewer trips to the feeding stations. The higher concentration of sugar also allows them to make it through cold days and nights much easier with less mortality (death).
In the spring when the males begin arriving here at the ranch the night time temperatures can fall to the mid 20’s for a couple of weeks and because we’re in the mountains at 7,000 feet altitude, in late August and early September (before they migrate south) the nightly temperatures change from summer to fall in just a couple of days and they get down into the low 30’s from the mid 70’s. It’s a drastic change telling everything and everyone that winter is knocking on the door.
For that reason we feed a 1:1 recipe of Sugar to Water during these times.
Summer Nectar
2:1 Nectar
Use: 2 level cups of water to 1 overflowing cup of sugar (this makes the weights very close). Bring to boil, cool and place in feeding stations.
Some people use a 4:1 recipe but we’ve found that it makes too much traffic on the feeding stations. The lower sugar content causes the birds to return more often for carbohydrate energy and they get less rest time in between feedings. It also makes our already very busy feeders a mass of waiting, fighting and pandemonium.
If you only have a few hummingbirds where you live, a 4:1 nectar will allow you to see the birds more as they will need to return to the feeding station(s) more often for the sustained energy they need. If you try a 4:1 and all of a sudden see no hummingbirds, go back to a 2:1 because they’re finding better natural nectar than your 4:1.
WHEN TO USE THIS NECTAR
As the night time temperatures stay above 40 and the daytime temperatures rise above 75 we move to our summer nectar.
This mixture just doubles the water.
The little birds need more hydration in the heat and while incubating their eggs so doubling the water makes sure they have the hydration they need. If they need more sugar, they’ll just make a few more trips to the feeders.
Another reason we add more water is because the heat is also hard on the nectar in the feeders. When the temperatures begin to rise as summer comes on the 1:1 nectar will begin to thicken as the water evaporates off in the feeders and you’ll find a thick syrupy gel in the bottoms of your feeders. This also gives more sugar to bacteria and your nectar can spoil faster.
COLORING THE NECTAR
Also see “Using Emulsifiers, Preservatives and dyes” below.
Food coloring may be used to color the finished nectar but it is not necessary. The birds are not attracted to the LOOK of the nectar, they are attracted to the SMELL of the sugar. Food coloring is expensive and at the rate that they consume the nectar, it’s better for the birds if you just feed them clear, colorless nectar.
Purists believe in clear nectar so there is no possibility of residual build up of unnecessary chemicals, although there has never been ANY scientific data to show that there has ever been a build up of any of the chemicals that make up our food coloring pallet.
REPELLING ANTS
Okay, this took us a LONG time to figure out.
As the summer comes on we find many varieties of ants mobbing the hummingbird feeders. The birds are not ant eaters and the ants actually discourage the birds from feeding as they don’t want the ants on them either! The ants have an acidic saliva that taints the nectar and the birds may shun the feeder if too many ants are feeding.
So, What To Do?
Knowing what hummingbirds and ants like and don’t like is the key.
CINNAMON
Hummingbirds don’t mind cinnamon and ants HATE IT.
This trick does not work for bees, hornets and wasps visiting your feeders. Only ants hate cinnamon. We use this method of ant repelling when feeding our bee’s, cinnamon keeps the ants out of the bee hives and bee feeders.
If you have honeybees within 5 miles, don’t use cinnamon.
THEY LOVE IT and are attracted to it, so if you do use cinnamon, you’ll attract honeybees to your feeders, then you’ll have to smear Tea Tree Oil on each feeding station to repel the bees.
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Adding cinnamon powder will only leave a messy clumpy yuck in your nectar.
Adding cinnamon oil could work but you would need an emulsifier added to make the cinnamon OIL mix with the nectar WATER… Oil and Water will only mix if an emulsifier is used. If you want to experiment a good emulsifier is polysorbate80 but there’s an easier way.
Just buy a bag of cinnamon candies (Brach’s calls them Cinnamon Imperials).
We use 1-2 Tbsps of candies per 8 cups of sugar in the recipe. You may have to adjust this more or less depending on how hungry your ants are and how willing they are to tolerate the cinnamon.
This will add a slight flavor of cinnamon to the nectar that the hummingbirds don’t mind and the ants absolutely do not like.
This does change the color of the nectar to a light pink color (if you see our pictures and videos you may see pink nectar, we didn’t purposely color this nectar, it has cinnamon candy melted into it to discourage the ants).
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TEA TREE OIL
Tea tree oil is a great repelling agent for all insects.
They all dislike the smell and do anything possible NOT to come in contact with it.
If you have a problem on your hummingbird feeders with flying insects, honeybees, wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, etc. tea tree oil will repel them and the hummingbirds won’t mind at all.
Just smear some tea tree oil on each feeding station. The hummingbirds are surgeons with their beaks and won’t even touch it but the flying insects will have to touch it to get to the feeding station hole and they won’t try it. After just a few minutes, they’ll all leave and leave your hummingbirds alone.
USING EMULSIFIERS,
PRESERVATIVES, and DYES
Like food coloring there is parallel controversy in using preservatives and emulsifiers so use your own study and judgement.
I will attempt to educate you but in the end it’s up to you.
There is a lot of SPECULATION and ASSUMPTION versus critical scientific data on using additives in hummingbird nectar.
Therefore there is always a huge controversy about using emulsifiers, preservatives and colorants in anything, let alone hummingbird nectar so you really have to just use your best judgement.
In the end, there is no law prohibiting the use of any of these for hummingbird nectar, just closed minded people spouting their un-educated opinions about what they “heard someone say”. People who care nothing for other peoples opinions, rights and desires and strictly think their way should be everyone’s way regardless… if you’re one of those people, please don’t read further. Leave this page and don’t come back. It will only frustrate you. If you do read further and disagree, that is fine and your right and I accept and grant that.
But, if you complain or try to inject your opinion in a comment to influence our readers, it will be ignored and deleted by admin and you’ll probably be blocked. We don’t care about your one sided, “you’re way is the only way” opinion. We’re about teaching people the facts, showing what we’ve learned by trial and error and real education and then letting people govern themselves with their new knowledge.
The FACT here is that there is no current law against any emulsifier, preservative or colorants used in hummingbird nectar.
EMULSIFIERS
An emulsifier is a constituent that when added to an oil and water mixture will cause the oil and water to mix. You may want to use an emulsifier if you use cinnamon oil in your nectar to fend off ants. The oil will not mix under normal conditions, you’ll need something to marry the two.
HONEY
An emulsifier that works very well in cooking is HONEY. It will help oil and water solutions mix. CAUTION: Honey while in its natural state is a very serious anti-bacterial, mixed in hummingbird nectar it can allow a particular bacteria to grow in your feeder that can become toxic to hummingbirds. Typically the birds will sense it and shun the feeder but in the end, It is safer to use this in your kitchen for human use and not hummers.
POLYSORBATE-40 & 80
Polysorbate is a great emulsifier. As with additives, there is always controversy for all animal use. Polysorbate is a very common emulsifier used in an un-countable quantity of products for both internal and external use.
A very small amount of Polysorbate mixed with the oil part of a recipe will then let the oil to mix with the water part when combined.
PRESERVATIVES
SODIUM BENZOATE & CITRIC ACID
SODIUM BENZOATE
Sodium benzoate is a very common food and pharmaceutical preservative. It is designated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS).
CITRIC ACID
Occurs naturally in citric fruits.
When Sodium Benzoate is mixed with Citric and added to an acidic solution or viscous food, it makes the treated solution bacteriostatic and fungistatic meaning that it is bacteria and fungi resistant by inhibiting their growth. You may not know that sugary items like jams, salad dressings, fruit juices and carbonated drinks are acidic in nature and readily accept sodium benzoate/citric acid inoculation.
Where to buy it
Go online to snow cone syrup suppliers and you’ll find SB and CA. We like the liquid as it is much easier to work with.
A quart of SB and CA will probably last you your lifetime.
TIP: If you make your own homemade pancake syrup, use this to preserve it and it will not grow mold on the surface but will remain for years, ready to use.
Formulary
You should use the same SB/CA proportions as Snow Cone and Pancake syrup.
For 8c sugar and 8c water use 1-tsp SB and 1/4-tsp CA
NOTE: To a COOL previously boiled mixture which is ready to feed, add the CA first and stir it in well. Then add the SB. Never add or mix them together by themselves. They will instantly react into a hard calcified substance.
At Cougar Ridge Ranch we put preservative in our early season 1:1 nectar. It’s usually a time of year when we have less than 50 hummingbirds feeding and they’re not emptying a feeder in less than 2 days. We put out 1 feeder and the nectar is preserved. It can stay up for a week and will actually go for almost a month without growing bacteria (albeit, with our voracious birds we never have feeders with nectar in them for more than 2 weeks). You know your nectar is growing bacteria when the hummingbirds won’t eat it and/or the nectar gets cloudy in the feeder.
DYES AND COLORANTS
The National Audubon Society’s website does not have any definitive data proving that red dye in hummingbird nectar is, has been or would be harmful to hummingbirds. They just post the rumors as if they’re experts on the subject. I’ll explain in a moment.
Purists believe that exposing hummingbirds to anything but natural nectar could be harmful to the birds, but as you read their blogs you’ll find that most feed their birds sugar water which really is NOT their natural nectar either, so even purists break their own rules.
HISTORY:
The red dye controversy started back around the time of the DDT ban in the 1972.
ABOUT DDT
DDT was a very effective pesticide but the postulation that it went up the food chain from insects to rodents to birds of prey, went from postulation, to law from fear and without real empirical scientific data.
In the early 70’s many bird of prey species populations were rapidly declining. It was determined that their egg shells were too thin to allow the the weight of the parents during incubation. The eggs would break under the weight of the parents and no chicks were raised that year. This thin egg shell epidemic was studied and a direct scientific correlation between weak egg shells and secondary DDT consumption was supposed and postulated BUT no scientific proof of a correlation was ever found or presented.
A theory was just officially published as a scientific paper, without scientific proof or evidence and DDT was banned in 1972.
Coincidentally within a few years of the ban, birds of prey populations had recovered back to normal.
INTERESTING NOTE:
A few years after the DDT ban, some serious studies and scientific proof indicated that factors other than DDT use were more likely responsible for most of the raptor egg shell thinning and population decline.
However the rumor, innuendo and damage in peoples minds about DDT was already prevalent and to this day many people have never been informed of, or studied the history and empirical scientific data and therefore still believe that DDT was the sole and only cause.
So now you know the rest of this story about DDT.
Now lets talk about the
Red Dye Scares and Rumors,
Where they most likely came from
and how they hang on…
Okay, soon after the scare of thin raptor eggs shells, the rumor mills started up and began to overlay the same DDT rumors and scares onto thousands of species of animals, fish, birds and even insects to which DDT was made to kill!
The FDA started the ball rolling with a false report of some dangers of Red Dyes used in food coloring. More of that below.
With the Red Dye warnings by the FDA, many of these “half remembered” stories of DDT doom for the raptors began to prevail in animal lover articles and thinking, and coincidentally, the scare of RED DYE for hummingbirds starts.
Red Dye was first a scare for humans, then fish, then animals and then hey, if it is bad for humans, it must be definitely bad for hummingbirds.
At first the scare of red dye was because it too could, or may, or might cause hummingbird egg shells to be thin…
but SCIENTIFICALLY this is NOT the case… just a rumor.
The rumors and scares have moved from egg shells in hummingbirds to thin beaks or blind chicks, rye necks and crippled legs, feet and wings.
But NONE of these have been scientifically proven, let alone scientifically documented.
All Just Rumors.
THE RED DYE SCARES
These rumors and wives tails could also have started with and propagated from the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ban on Red Dye FD&C #2 in 1976. The colorant was removed from the FDA approved list in 1976 from a lone study that showed cancer in female rats. The study was never duplicated or even questioned. It was just acted upon by the FDA.
While the U.S. FDA does not approve Red FD&C#2, it is widely used outside of the U.S. including Canada before and since 1976 and no conclusive negative scientific data has come forth from the rest of the world in that time.
Again in 1990 the FDA banned Red Dye FD&C#3 BUT this ban was only for some specific uses which are totally unscientific and very illogical and strange… for example
Red #3 can be used in any amount in consumable food and drug products consumed by humans and animals, (i.e., it can be used as much as desired, with no restrictions INSIDE the body), but it can not be used in anything applied to the outside of the body!
WHAT! The FDA says you can eat as much Red FD&C#3 as you want but can’t put any on your skin, nails or hair.
Yes, strange as it may seem, some extremely obscure research data was published without credentials in the early 1990’s in which the so called “scientists” stated that male rats developed thyroid tumors caused by exposure to Red FD&C#3. Female rats were not mentioned, just male rats.
I’m just guessing here but since the FDA’s scientific data states that you can consume as much red FD&C#3 as you want and it is considered safe, the male rats must have been very RED as they would have had to be dangling in red FD&C#3 many times a day to have it effect their thyroids from exterior use!! OR, it really wasn’t the cause… use your own logic and wisdom here.
Clearer thinking postulates that the ban was done by a more political regulating body than scientific as the writers of the paper were not named, nor was the study identified or replicated.
Never the less, only 2 RED DYES out of 23 Red Dyes in total, were banned or partially banned.
As of this writing, without any other scientific justification they are still banned for the same illogical, non-scientific reasons.
The FDA takes the gestapo stance that they are in charge and can not be questioned.
The RED DYE scare of the 1976’s through the 1990’s has caused many non-scientific opinions to postulate that red dye is bad and causes problems… but to this day NO credible, duplicatable scientific data has EVER been published to substantiate any of these claims while other scientific data and usage history refute the FDA’s claims of harm or potential harm.
Another LOGICAL Question
Why Just 2 RED Dyes?
WHAT ABOUT ALL DYES?
An interesting scientific note here and something just to prick your brain and thinking , and something additional to show you the falseness and fervor of the Red Dye fears and rumors.
ALL dye colors come from different chemicals and formulas.
FOR EXAMPLE
Red Dye FD&C#2 is made from AMARANTH and is only banned in the U.S. in consumable products. If you’ve been to Canada and Europe you probably consumed Red FD&C#2 as it is perfectly legal there.
Red Dye FD&C#3 is an organoiodine compound, specifically a derivative of fluorone. It is totally different from FD&C#2 as it has no, none, zero Amaranth.
Red Dye FD&C#40 is different from Red FD&C#2 and Red FD&C#3 and is made from the formulation of disodium 6-hydroxy-5-((2-methoxy-5-methyl-4-sulfophenyl)azo)-2-naphthalenesulfonate. This has become the most commonly and widely used RED colorant in the U.S. even though it is made with many more chemicals. It is most likely the most popular since the DYE controversies seemed to stop with FD&C#3.
So this little example shows you that every dye color is a different chemical or chemical composition.
Red #3 is not a darker or lighter version of red #2, it is totally different from all other colors as are all of the dye colors are as different chemically from each other as they are in their hue color differences.
The chemicals just give our eyes the perception of a particular color.
So WHY were Red #2 and Red #3 lumped into the same bans?
MORE TO PONDER
Another question to ponder is this.
If RED dye is bad, what about YELLOW & BLUE & ORANGE & WHITE & BLACK & BROWN & GREEN, and for that matter, all of the other secondary color dyes?
ANSWER
NOTHING… Nope, Nada. No bans or data, and for that matter no rumors and innuendo about any other color other than RED.
Some say; if red is bad other colors are bad, but I believe I’ve shown you that there is no proof that red is bad.
The humor in all of this is that the rumors and innuendo don’t even know WHICH of the 23 red dyes is, or might be the culprit!
As I taught you above, all of the man made dye colorants are made from different chemicals and chemical compositions.
For a RED example, there are 19 different red dyes with red in their name and when you add in the violets that come from red, there are 23 in total. So what makes any or all of the reds worse than the blues, yellows, greens, oranges, white, browns and blacks?
NOTHING.
If the other colors have shown no problems and have caused no problems, and there is no documentation to the contrary, red is truly and most probably chemically safe too. It is just that someone first focused on the ban reds in the 70’s through 90’s and uneducated consumers have kept the rumors going and transmuted the ban to something bad for hummingbirds.
SPECIAL NOTE
Please do not construe my writings to summarize that I advocate the use of colorants. On the contrary. You should be your own judge. Study, get wisdom and knowledge and then decide if colorants are okay for you and yours.
Holistic doctors believe that the chemicals used to make the colorants can possibly cause abnormalities in living organisms, including humans. Many holistic doctors and chiropractors advise their patients to avoid colorants and here’s a funny one, they believe that the chemicals used to make Red #3 and Red #40 can cause bone and joint issues. Its still supposition as there’s still no conclusive scientific evidence either way so make your own educated choices.
SUMMARY
Don’t get me wrong, anytime we feed natures creatures we must be stewards of care and oversight of what we feed them and we at Cougar Ridge Ranch prefer not to add red dye (or any other dyes) to their nectar (with the exception of the cinnamon candies that have red dye in them).
Are Hummingbirds Attracted to the Color or Something Else?
In other words… Do I Need COLOR to Attract HummingBirds?
To answer this we did an experiment.
Since we have more than 12 feeders hanging we decided to fill each with a different color and see which one was visited the most (drained the fastest). We postulated that “color doesn’t matter”.
We used a variety of 9 colors mingled between clear nectar feeders to see which one attracted hummingbirds better.
What we found was FUNNY to say the least.
It was a clear cup of clear sugar nectar just sitting on the ground about 40 feet from the feeders that gave us the answer and it happened before we even got all of the feeders colored and hung.
We were using a paper cup to fill feeders with sugar nectar and then adding the color into the sugar nectar while in the feeder so as not to mix colors.
While we were on ladders 40 feet away hanging the feeders, we noticed hummingbirds sipping clear sugar nectar out of the cup on the ground.
This was a place that never has a cup of sugar nectar just sitting around, in fact this was the only time we ever had an open cup of sugar nectar outside, but there it was. We had answered the question before we even got the experiment started.
We tried the experiment again with a twist. We simply took a paper cup of clear nectar and put it somewhere in the yard. Within minutes a hummingbird would find it and hover and sip from the cup.
SIDE NOTE:
We have since noticed over the years that in a row of 14 feeders, the hummingbirds empty them from the outside in, so this may have skewed our color experiment had our sweet little sugar vampires not shown us that they can smell the nectar regardless of what color it is or isn’t.
Conclusion:
Hummingbirds are attracted to the nectar by its scent, not its color. They may be initially attracted to the colors on your feeders but the color of the nectar has minimal attracting properties.
We’ve noticed that they prefer to go check out colored objects in the yard but no matter what container we put sugar nectar in, they find it.
Another though here is that natural nectar is also colorless and typically not even visible. The birds are attracted to the bright colors of the flowers (natures hanging feeders) where they smell the nectar and where they lick it from the flowers.
If you have positive feedback, we welcome your comments.
Cougar Ridge Ranch is the summer breeding ground for 4 species of hummingbirds.
Growing, up my grandfather, father and uncles were all cowboys and my grandfather and father were Mounted Sheriff’s as well. We all lived around my grandfathers ranch, so all of us kids were junior cowboys as well.
Knowing this, I put out 10 hornet traps and filled them with rootbeer. Then I hung the traps where the beehives were last year when they were killed by the hornets. Long before the temperature ever got over 50F I caught hundreds of hornets in the traps and I’m betting they are ALL queens. So every queen caught in the trap is one less colony to have to deal with.
