1. Once you buy your feeder, fill it up with only water and then empty that same water into a measuring cup to find the amount of liquid that the feeder holds. As an example, let's say that your feeder holds 25 ounces.
2. Take 20% or 1/5 of the total amount (25 ounces), which is five ounces, and that five ounces will be the amount of sugar that you will use.
3. The remaining 80% or 4/5 amount will be the amount of water the feeder will use.
4. So for a 25 ounce feeder: you will add five ounces of sugar to 20 ounces of water.
5. Measure five ounces of sugar and put it aside.
6. Then place 20 ounces of water in a pan and allow it to come to a boil.
7. When the water is boiling, add the five ounces of sugar to the boiling water and then stir it for two minutes. Boiling the water helps to remove any impurities in the water and helps to quickly dissolve the sugar.
8. After two minutes of stirring the sugar in the boiling water, turn the heat off of the pan and then allow the water to cool to room temperature so that the little hummers don't burn their tongues.
I recommend buying a feeder that has a perch at each of its feeding holes so the birds can rest while they drink the liquid.
The one part sugar to four parts water formula listed above will closely resemble the natural sugar content of the nectar that hummingbirds drink from flowers.
A hummingbirds' heart can beat about 1,260 times per minute. A certain Anna's hummingbird was clocked with its wings beating about 80 times per SECOND !
I have been feeding hummingbirds since 1998.
May 30, 2007 WED. 12:00 PM AZ
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