THE NASTY RED DYE!

I’ll start out today to dispel my favorite hummingbird myth, THE NASTY RED DYE!
Over the years I’ve heard dozens of people talk about the red dye, how they think they cant attract hummers with out using it in their feeders.
Last year while at the store buying a new feeder I ran across an older couple looking at hummingbird food. I though I would help them out and let them know how to make their own hummer soup. In short order I was informed that their hummers didn’t like food that didn’t have the red dye in it. I laughed to my self as I thought, their hummers and my hummers are one in the same.

The truth is you can make hummers food out of table sugar! You don’t need the NASTY RED DYE!!!
If you make your own hummer food please use sugar made from cane not the cheaper beat sugar. Both the NASTY RED DYE & sugar made from beats can be HARMFUL to hummingbirds. From all the web pages I have read you can use anywhere from 1 part sugar to 4 parts water to 1 part sugar to 1 part water. We start hummingbird season with a 1 to 1 mix, ½ cup sugar to ½ cup water near the end of the season, when all of my hummingbird plants have kicked in, we drop to 1 to 3 mix, ¼ cup sugar to ¾ cup water. During fall migration we will go back to the 1 part sugar to one part water. You don’t need to boil the water, the bacteria is carried by the hummingbirds. As soon as the first hummer visits your feeder the bacteria has been transferred to the food.