Attract Hummingbirds With This Safe, Easy Nectar Recipe (2024)

Hummingbirds eat tiny bugs, pollen, and some fruit. However, the food they are most attracted to is a basic hummingbird nectar recipe. This recipe mimics the sugar content of nectar in flowers and offers birds a healthy, nutritious, and easily digestible source of energy.

Learn how to make this easy hummingbird food recipe to welcome these tiny creatures into your yard.

Classic Hummingbird Nectar Recipe

Attract hummingbirds with a simple DIY sugar water solution. The best and most common ratio of ingredients is 1:4, which is 1 cup of sugar to 4 cups of water. Change the ratio to 1:3 (1 cup sugar to 3 cups of water) on cold, rainy, or foggy days when birds may need more energy.

What You'll Need

Tools

• Hummingbird feeder
• Spoon or whisk
• Pitcher or other container
  

Supplies

• 1 cup plain white granulated table sugar
• 4 cups water

Instructions

1. Combine Sugar and Water

   Combine 1 cup of plain white granulated table sugar and 4 cups of water in a saucepan or pot. (This is the 1:4 ratio.)

   

2. Heat the Mixture

   Slowly heat the solution on your stovetop until it boils. Do not overboil the water. Turn off the stove and whisk the sugar to help it dissolve and ferment. As soon as the sugar dissolves, remove the pot from the stove.

   

3. Let Cool

   Allow the solution to cool completely before filling feeders. Hot nectar can warp or crack glass and plastic hummingbird feeders, causing leaks. Warm nectar will also ferment more quickly once it becomes contaminated.

   Pour the cooled solution into a pitcher or other container and use it to fill the feeder.

   

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Hummingbird Nectar Recipe Tips

While hummingbird nectar is simple to make, ensure it is safe for the birds coming to your garden. Consider these additional tips:

• Using tap water: Consider using bottled or purified water if your tap water contains heavy chemicals, strong tastes, or odors.
• Keeping an eye on ratios: Double-check that there's still enough water in the pot after boiling it so you maintain the correct sugar concentration. Hummingbirds can enjoy sweeter nectar but if it ferments too quickly it may clog feeding ports as the sugar crystallizes.
• Using plain white granulated sugar: Do not use sugar substitutes, honey, brown sugar, or molasses for any hummingbird nectar recipe. Sugar substitutes do not offer birds any nutritional value, and other sweeteners are too heavy, undigestable, or ferment too quickly and create fatal mold.
  
• Making healthier nectar. A simple homemade sugar solution is healthier (and less expensive) for hummingbirds than commercial products with unnecessary additives for birds.
• Storing nectar. Store unused hummingbird sugar water in the refrigerator for up to one week. Consider adjusting the recipe's quantity (keeping the ratio intact) if you have too much left over so the birds can enjoy fresh sugar water.
• Adding fresh nectar: Clean hummingbird feeders at least once a week and refill them with fresh sugar water. However, feeders empty more frequently in warm weather or when multiple birds feed.

When to Buy Commercial Hummingbird Nectar

Though it only takes a few minutes to make homemade nectar, you can purchase powdered or liquid concentrates if you don't have time to make your own or you prefer convenience. Some concentrates come in premeasured portions to fill a single feeder. Check the ingredients to be sure the product does not contain unnecessary preservatives or dyes.

To Dye or Not to Dye

It is unnecessary to add red dye to homemade nectar to get a hummingbird's attention. They will be attracted to a red feeder, red flowers nearby, or any red garden decor in your yard.

Commercial hummingbird nectars may tint their product using red food coloring that's safe for human and animal consumption, unlike the controversial and now-banned red dyes from the 1970s.