Here's a recipe for humming bird feeder food.

Humming Bird Feeder Food

Humming birds will hang out in your garden if they have bugs to eat and flowers to take nectar from.  If you offer a humming bird feeder, you'll attract even more.
Humming birds are attracted to the color red, but it is better to use a colorful red feeder than to dye the nectar red. Some food dyes may affect the humming birds adversely.

There are many wonderful humming bird feeders available in many styles.  They are usually made of a glass, plastic or ceramic and will have a tube for the syrup to be released.  They are not a natural source of food for the humming bird so they have to learn to use them.  If you don't get humming birds to come to your feeder, hang out another one in a different style.  They may figure out that one quicker. 

When you make hummingbird nectar, boiling the ingredients retards mold growth, disolves the sugar and your mixture will keep longer without spoiling.  Make sure your humming bird feeder food is kept fresh so it will not make the birds sick.

Humming birds are also attracted to tubular flowers.  If you decide to plant flowers for the humming birds some good choices are Monarda, Canna, Foxglove, Butterfly Bush, Columbine, Lupine and Yucca.

They migrate south in the fall months and come back in the spring.  Make sure you hang your feeder out soon enough in the spring with fresh syrup for the humming birds.

In the fall an occasional humming bird will come through very late in the season. It's a good idea to leave your feeder out after it seems all humming birds have left. A tardy humming bird will be grateful to find a feeder with fresh food available.

For more information on birds, bird feeders and bird houses, visit our sister site at Feeders and Houses.

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