This Hummingbird Food Recipe Will Keep Them Coming

Need a hummingbird food recipe to fill your yard with hummingbirds? These tiny birds burn through an amazing amount of food in relation to their size as they dart and twirl in the air. Hummingbirds must consume more food than their weight every day. You can help hummingbirds by making your own hummingbird "juice" at home, filling up your hummingbird feeders and enjoying these amazing birds as they happily dine.

Hummingbird Nutritional Needs
You might be surprised to know that hummingbirds need protein in their diets. These birds actually feast on gnats, flies, ants and other small insects to fulfill their needs for protein.

Hummingbirds drink nectar from flowers to complete their diets. In order to attract birds to your yard, plant perennials such as:

• Cosmos
• Hollyhocks
• Floxgloves
• Fuschias
• Dahlias

Offer these annuals:

• Nasturtiums
• Zinnias
• Petunias

Don't neglect shrubs, vines and trees. Shrubs, vines and trees such as hibiscus, honeysuckle and eucalyptus will also do their share to attract hummingbirds.

Homemade Hummingbird Food Recipe
No hummingbird food mixture, whether commercially made or homemade, will replace the protein that hummingbirds must have. However, you can supplement or replace the nectar that hummingbirds need.

The recipe is simple. Add one part granulated sugar to four parts water. Stir, bring to a boil and continue boiling for a few minutes. After the liquid is completely cool, fill up your hummingbird feeders.

There are several important "do not's" when making hummingbird food.

• Do not add red food coloring. Yes, commercially prepared hummingbird food is red. However, no one knows the effects of red food coloring on hummingbirds. Your feeder has red parts. The hummingbirds will come.
• Do not use powdered sugar. Powdered sugar contains corn starch. Corn starch can make the sugar-water liquid ferment.
• Do not use honey. If hummingbirds wanted honey, they would go after beehives. A honey-water mix encourages the growth of organisms that are not good for hummingbirds.
• Don't worry about the extra nutrients that commercially made hummingbird foods offer. Hummingbirds get these nutrients from eating bugs.

Clean your hummingbird feeders every few days and more frequently when it is hot.