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Joined: Sep 2011
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Campfire Kahuna
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OP
Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 60,941 Likes: 15 |
My wife is starting to feed the hummingbirds with some store bought mixture. Is it just sugar?
What do you feed the birds?
These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o "May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 12,475
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 12,475 |
Faith and love of others knows no mileage nor bounds. That's simply the way it is. dogzapper
After the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box. Italian Proverb
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,216
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,216 |
Doesn't matter what you feed them, you'll never get enough meat off them to make it worth time.
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,851
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,851 |
Sugar water. 4:1 water to sugar ratio.
For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
2 Thessalonians 3:10
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Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 3,283
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 3,283 |
Sugar water. 4:1 water to sugar ratio. and don't use any dyes. boil one part water to dissolve the sugar, then combine to other 3 parts.
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,173 Likes: 38
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,173 Likes: 38 |
I shake defuq out of it, I don’t boil it
Cold water, sugar, shake it like a Boss
Refill executed in 90 seconds
The babies are hungry
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 42,013 Likes: 5
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 42,013 Likes: 5 |
Paul.
"Kids who grow up hunting, fishing & trapping, do not mug little old Ladies"
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Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 330
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 330 |
4:1 water to sugar ratio and DON'T add any dye. It's bad for them. We currently have 2 feeders hanging in the back yard and get as many as 7-8 hummingbirds at a time. They're fun to watch.
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 2,200
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 2,200 |
I keep reading/hearing that the dye is bad for the little birds, BUT can you even buy the stuff in a store that doesn't have dye in it? If not, why would the companies that make the stuff want to do harm to the birds? Why are they still adding dye if it's been proven that it harms them?
I don't add any dye, because it's simply not necessary.
Laws aren't preventative measures. In other words, more laws won't prevent gun crime from happening.
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 4,319
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Mar 2007
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There are a couple store bought mixes that are clear but most have the dye. I have used this before and they seemed to like it and were around all summer with no apparent ill effects. Just as easy to do the sugar water. https://www.amazon.com/Kaytee-Hummi...91195466&sr=8-3&tag=hydusmmsn-20
NRA Life Member
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,917 Likes: 2
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,917 Likes: 2 |
I gotta 'fess up, I just use the Perky Pet red stuff. The sodium benzoate makes it last longer.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 3,718
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Aug 2008
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Finally put one up 2 days ago...............have yet to see a hummer!
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Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 9,966 Likes: 7
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 9,966 Likes: 7 |
We feed them all summer. It's important to remove the feeders at migration time, or they tend to stick around too far into cold weather to survive the trip south. Clear feeding solutions are available, and if you use the feeders with the red "flowers" at the feeding points it attracts them just as effectively as the big red globe of liquid does. Watching several hummers dogfighting over one specific feeding point while ignoring several others is amusing- - - - -they put on a show that would put the Red Baron to shame!
We use a big iron "Shepherd's crook" hanger to put the feeders where they're easily visible from windows, and wrap a strip of flypaper around the upright to keep ants from climbing the pole and contaminating the feeding liquid. Jerry
Ignorance can be fixed. Stupid is forever!
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Joined: Aug 2002
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 37,917 Likes: 2 |
We feed them all summer. It's important to remove the feeders at migration time, or they tend to stick around too far into cold weather to survive the trip south. Good post, but this part just ain't so. Waterfowl migrate or not dependent upon food supply, but being so much larger they can lay on enough fat for a 500 mile hop to the south as needed, But if hummingbirds waited until food was in short supply before migrating they would never be able to survive the trip. In most birds the time, distance and direction of migration is genetic, not related to food supply. Because its genetic there's always inherent variation. A few inherit wrong directions; too early, too late, too far, not far enough, wrong direction. Once in a great while one of these oddballs lucks out and discovers a new place that species can survive and passes on its own migration path to its offspring. It is probable that most late or non-migratory hummingbirds are gonna die anyhow. They need more than just sugar to survive and when cold weather kills off the tiny insects they ordinarily feed on they linger for awhile then die, usually December-January up north.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 31,278 Likes: 8
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 31,278 Likes: 8 |
What the guys and especially what Birdie said. Avoid that store-bought stuff - you don't really know what's in it.
And do NOT take your feeders down to "force them to migrate" because they desperately need to fatten up for that arduous trip, and taking down your feeders may in fact condemn them to starvation. You are making them leave on an "empty tank" when they need all the fuel they can get.
Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.
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Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 17,222 Likes: 15
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 17,222 Likes: 15 |
What the guys and especially what Birdie said. Avoid that store-bought stuff - you don't really know what's in it.. Leftover Nutrisweet?
-OMotS
"If memory serves fails me..." Quote: ( unnamed) "been prtty deep in the cooler todaay " Television and radio are most effective when people question little and think even less.
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Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 17,222 Likes: 15
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2019
Posts: 17,222 Likes: 15 |
Do they need the little yellow fake flowers to find the food or can they smell it?
Would they go for a bowl of sugar water?
-OMotS
"If memory serves fails me..." Quote: ( unnamed) "been prtty deep in the cooler todaay " Television and radio are most effective when people question little and think even less.
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,173 Likes: 38
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,173 Likes: 38 |
They sell dye so old cataract fuggs and see the level of product in their feeders.
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,173 Likes: 38
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 67,173 Likes: 38 |
Do they need the little yellow fake flowers to find the food or can they smell it?
Would they go for a bowl of sugar water? These birds know what feeders look like. Lol Before I hung this feeder, they were showing up investigating some globe shaped wind chimes and hippie prism bullchit my wife has hanging on our deck. Thought what the hell, put a feeder up...see what this bullshît is all about
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