Hummingbird Feeders?

Seeing all the good recipes being posted, I just couldn't resist posting this one for anyone who has hummingbird feeders.

This recipe was given to me many years ago by a wonderful lady in St. David, AZ who keeps a lot of exotic birds on her property and has feeders for the large variety of locals as well.

This is much less expensive than store bought nectar, and beyond being just sugar and water, the hummingbirds really love the touch of vanilla, returning day after day to enjoy this special treat.

You are welcome to right click on this image and save it if you would like to have it.





Moni


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[Djinn Raffo]

Hey Moni!
This is great.
Lots of hummingbirds around my house and i think i will try this out.
Will brown sugar suffice?
What about the feeder itself? I don't want to buy some plastic piece of ...
Maybe i'll try to make one out of wood. Got any ideas?
Hummingbirds are the coolest things.
I think that birds are pretty cool...but kind of taken for granted that they are there...just flying around doing their thing...unnoticable for the most part.

[Melusine]

Wow....looks great Moni!!
Now I only wish I could use it but there are no hummingbirds here...
They used to be my favourite birds when I was a kid, I knew them all by name and I made sketchbooks full of drawings of hummingbirds!

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Melusine, High Queen of Fluffies, Archbabe of the OHF, the LH,
the HADB and the SPAE(Society for the
Prevention of Acronym Extinction) &
Official Entertainer Elf of the BG2 Bar

Your voice is ambrosia
Amy Brown Fantasy Art

[This message has been edited by Melusine (edited 07-25-2001).]

[Redblueflare]

I'll see if they like it. I always see hummingbirds around my house.

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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I just don't have to listen.

Originally posted by Djinn Raffo: Hey Moni! This is great. Lots of hummingbirds around my house and i think i will try this out. Will brown sugar suffice? What about the feeder itself? I don't want to buy some plastic piece of ... Maybe i'll try to make one out of wood. Got any ideas? Hummingbirds are the coolest things. I think that birds are pretty cool...but kind of taken for granted that they are there...just flying around doing their thing...unnoticable for the most part.

I don't see why brown sugar would not work, but granulated is much less expensive! You might want to reduce the sugar content due to the molasses in brown sugar though and maybe skip the vanilla.
Plastic pieces of crap work fine, just be sure to clean them regularly since sugar and water create molds after a while when they are exposed to heat and sunshine.
Feeders are available in glass but I don't know where to buy them. If I ever see them for sale anywhere I'll pass the word along to you.
I wouldn't have a clue as to how to make one, esp out of wood since hummingbirds feed by sucking nectar through the holes in the feeders. Wood would have to be finished somehow so that the water and sugar mixture does not absorb into the wood, making a really moldy mess after a while. This creates the possibility of making them poisonous to hummers once the water and sugar mixture is added so I am not sure you should try.
The plastic ones are cheap and as long as they are rinsed out well every time you refill them, they'll last a year or two, depending on how much sunlight they are exposed to since they do dry out and crack after a while.


Moni



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I wish I was fast enough to catch one! Thanks for the recipe here. I have a giant plastic strawberry in my kitchen right now! I saw one last year in my back yard and I want that green belly beauty here where I can see it more often! Would Pixes have wings that fast Thanks again,

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*\Conan/*

[Lord of Alcohol]

I just finished framing a house where a bird (starling maybe? a little bird) built a nest in the second floor system. We saw the nest and one guy looked from a ladder and the bird came out and ran into his head lol. Anyway we figured (correctly) that there were eggs so we didnt pry further, we heard little birds chirping last week Kind of neat, mama bird got pretty used to us, we make lots of noise

[Djinn Raffo]

OK well maybe i will try a plastic thing then...
The glass one sounds the best though...i will have to look
for one of those.

Originally posted by Lord of Alcohol: I just finished framing a house where a bird (starling maybe? a little bird) built a nest in the second floor system. We saw the nest and one guy looked from a ladder and the bird came out and ran into his head lol. Anyway we figured (correctly) that there were eggs so we didnt pry further, we heard little birds chirping last week Kind of neat, mama bird got pretty used to us, we make lots of noise

That is really cool!
I had a pair of migrating hummingbirds that I fed regularly in AZ.
Every late fall, the male would show up and get in my face to let me know they had arrived. Morning coffee and news sessions were always interrupted by both of them coming to look in my window and bid me good morning.
I also catered to a spring/summer pair so I had at least two hummingbirds around all year long.
They built a nest in my neighbor's yard and had babies there, allowing all who gathered, to watch the babies learn the fine points of flying including backward maneuvers.


I don't have any that frequent here although I saw a couple hanging out at the real flowers next door. A clue that I should hang the feeder in the back yard instead of the front.

There is also a really big woodpecker that lives in our chinaberry tree. I have never seen more than just the one for the last two years that I have lived here but always hope he/she will find a mate and give us the same kind of joy you got to experience.


Moni


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[adam warlock]

Originally posted by Moni: Seeing all the good recipes being posted, I just couldn't resist posting this one for anyone who has hummingbird feeders. This recipe was given to me many years ago by a wonderful lady in St. David, AZ who keeps a lot of exotic birds on her property and has feeders for the large variety of locals as well. This is much less expensive than store bought nectar, and beyond being just sugar and water, the hummingbirds really love the touch of vanilla, returning day after day to enjoy this special treat. You are welcome to right click on this image and save it if you would like to have it. Moni

very good idea but there's a slight problem:
If left out for over a week, the water will go moldy...

so I would recommend to cut the recipe in half