The last question on the old thread was "why are all the nectars sold red?" The answer is simple: MONEY!! The pushers fool people into thinking the commercial nectar has something the hummers need. It's why caramel coloring is added to Cokes - who would buy clear, flavored sugar water?

I agree! I worked retail for years. The consumers are easily fooled.

We make our own, also (the price of premade is obscene IMHO), but the formula I was taught was 1 cup sugar to 4 cups water. That would translate to 1/4 cup sugar for every cup of water. Am I not making it sweet enough? They seem to drink it pretty readily.
Thanks,
Edie

Hi ediej,

Any mix in the 1:3 to 1:4 ratio is fine. I use the 1:3 in the Spring to help them recover from migration, and in the Fall when they're storing up fat for migration. I use the 1:4 in the heat of Summer when they may need the extra water.

OK, thanks - I will "up" the sugar ratio in a couple of weeks, then, as it is getting close to that time (we normally take down feeders right after Labor Day to encourage them to start making the trip.)
Edie

I laid in bed last night and wondered if I had said 1/3 or 1/4. I meant to say 1/4. Sorry!

Edie, Please don't take your feeders down until you haven't seen any hummers for 2-3 weeks. The migrators will be passing thru, and will need the food. Leaving a feeder up won't cause them to delay their migration.

As long as your feeder has red parts they will come.

Actually, the color doesn't really matter. Hummers are attracted by the nectar content, not the color, so even a green, blue or brown (or even a clear glass) feeder will work equally as well. Like many myths, the attraction of the color red is a causal assumption - hummingbirds are only attracted to red because many red colored flowers have a heavy nectar content. They are also attracted to any other colored flower that has a similar nectar content - pink, white, blue, yellow.