I've always used 4 parts water to 1 part sugar to fill my feeders. A friend insists that I am killing hummingbird babies because I'm not boiling the water first. What say you experts? Thank you. Laura
Hummer nectar - does it have to be boiled?
I bring a tea kettle of water just to a boil, take off the heat, then pour into my reserve container until it cools. I bring my water to a boil to help melt the sugar. I never use organic sugar, or unrefined sugar; just regular refined table sugar. I use the same ratio as you, 4paws. I have been using this reciepe for 25+ years. IMHO, people who use the wrong kind of sugar and those who use food coloring, syrups and honey do more damage to hummers than whether or not the water was boiled, warm or cold.
Deborah
Thanks, Deborah. That's basically what I do - add the boiling water to melt the sugar, then fill the container with cool water.
In Western Colorado, I used to go through nearly a gallon of nectar a day. I counted 27 hummers sitting on a fence like "big birds" once. They would land on my finger while feeding if I put it out, and buzz my hat if their feeders went too low. Folks on the other end of the telephone could hear them zooming by when I sat on the deck to talk.
I am not an expert, but I did research this question google-ing some time ago. Most all the instructions seemed to be based on 'hear-say' with no one siting scientific research.
The consensus was most people seem to boil the water to get rid of some of the impurities in the water and to disolve the sugar easily. (I don't know if boiling actually gets rid of many of the impurities like chlorine, but it might.)
Others say it sterilizes the mixture so that it is not so prone to bacterial spoilage, especially in the heat of summer. (If you use a clean container and clean water and sugar, I would think it would be clean enough--at least as clean as anything out side. No?)
Other so-called experts say it's not really necessary to boil the water if you can disolve the sugar handily and if you change your nectar frequently.
I don't know what the results would be if a scientist did laboratory research---I could not find any info on that. Only what is the 'custom' for hummer watchers.
Personally, I don't think it makes much of a difference. I use a quart glass measuring cup, fill it with cool water and stick it in the microwave for a few minutes. (I use cool water because I use cool water to make coffee and it seems like the thing to do. I read somewhere that hot water has been sitting in the water heater and might have some by-flavors, but I haven't heard it's a health issue.) Then add a cup of white sugar and stir and cool.
The HBs seem to like it and I haven't found any dead birds around.
(People don't even sterilize baby bottles and formula anymore. Not that that has anything to do with it!)
I don't think you're killing anything. Do the hummingbirds like your recipe?
They sure seemed to. I never found dead hummers, either, and there were lots of them every year. I used to joke that they talked about my place in their winter homes.
Here they apparently don't leave, or leave quite late. I've got them zooming around my fuchsia and pineapple sage quite happily, and looking for the feeders on the deck. I'd always taken them down in colder climates by mid-September.
I have the half-baked idea that too much babying of wild things, and perhaps ourselves, leads to the inability to resist diseases as effectively.
My friend must have seen the boiling information on some nature channel, and you know, if it's on TV or in the paper, it's got to be the truth. HAHAHAHAHAH! (wry laughter)