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The Simplest Hummingbird Nectar Recipe

This safe and delicious recipe will nurture your favorite backyard visitors.

By Arricca Elin SanSoneUpdated: May 1, 2024

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Hummingbirds are amazing little creatures. Whizzing around your garden with wings that beat at 90 times per second, these tiny birds must eat every 10 to 15 minutes, and can visit up to 2,000 flowers per day.

Because about 90 percent of their diet is sugary nectar, putting out hummingbird food or nectar in a feeder is a great way to provide nutrition, especially during nesting and migration times in the spring and fall.

Of course, you can also support them by planting flowers that hummingbirds love.

Make your yard even more hummingbird-friendly by not using pesticides on your lawn or in your garden. Their diets include insects, and hummingbirds are skilled aerial hunters that can snatch insects mid-air and even from spider webs. (Curious? Learn how wildflowers can help control pests in your garden.)

Hummers also like to perch to survey their domains, so, when pruning, leave some sticks or dead branches in your trees to give them a place to sit and check out the neighborhood.

Finally, when filling your hummingbird feeder, you don’t need to buy hummingbird food. You can make hummingbird food at home with a few simple ingredients. It’s cheap and easy to make.

Here’s how to make hummingbird food and attract hummers to your garden:

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Yields:

1 c.

Prep Time:

5 mins

Total Time:

30 mins

Ingredients

1/4 c.
refined white sugar
1 c.
boiling water

Directions

1. Step 1Mix refined white sugar and boiling water together until sugar is dissolved. Cool the mixture, then fill your clean feeder. Refrigerate leftovers for up to a week in a lidded jar.

NOTE: Do not substitute brown sugar, molasses, or honey, which can promote dangerous microbial growth.

Also, do not use red food coloring. It is not necessary and may be harmful to the birds. Nectar from flowers is a clear solution.

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How Often Should I Clean a Hummingbird Feeder?

Choose a feeder that’s easy to take apart and clean as you will need do it regularly.

Clean your feeder every time you refill it. In hot weather, you should empty and clean it at least twice a week, if it's not being emptied at least this fast. In cool weather, once a week is fine.

You don't need to use soap, which can leave harmful residues. Hot tap water is sufficient. Use a little brush to get into the nooks and crannies.

Should I Put up More Than One Hummingbird Feeder?

Definitely! Hummingbirds are territorial and will stake out their favorite feeding places, defending their food sources. If you can place a few feeders around your garden, it will go a long way toward keeping all your resident hummingbirds happy.

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When Should I Take Down Hummingbird Feeders in Fall?

Leave your feeders up as long as you see hummingbirds, and even a few weeks longer to accommodate any latecomers headed south.

Keeping feeders up will not make hummingbirds stay too late; they’re migratory and genetically programmed to head south based on the length of the day and angle of the sun.

If you live somewhere that hummingbirds live year-round, such as along the Gulf coast, southern Arizona, southern Florida, or Baja California, it’s fine to keep your feeders out all the time.

In northern climates, put feeders back up in the spring, about a week before you expect the hummingbirds to arrive in your area. This varies regionally but is generally early March to mid-May in most of the country.