Hummingbird Feeder Guide

Make the mixture with about one-quarter cup of sugar per cup of water; food coloring is unnecessary and table sugar is the best choice ⁴. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds prefer red or orange flowers, but there is no need to color the sugar water ⁴. Change it before it grows cloudy or discolored, and remember that in hot weather sugar water ferments rapidly to produce toxic alcohol ⁴. At any sign of cloudy water or black mold, discard the solution and clean immediately ¹.

Choose a feeder that is easy to take apart and clean, because it should be washed or run through the dishwasher frequently — every couple of days, ideally every time it is refilled ¹. Feeders are generally safe for hummingbirds, but can be a problem if they make the birds easy targets for cats or are placed near windows the birds might fly into ⁴; some cats learn to lie in wait, so place feeders where a cat cannot ambush, and treat nearby glass with markings spaced no more than 2 inches apart ³⁴.

Planting tubular flowers — trumpet creeper, cardinal flower, honeysuckle, jewelweed and bee-balm — feeds the same birds without maintenance, and they also catch insects in midair for protein ⁴.

Place feeders close to natural cover such as trees or shrubs, which offer birds refuge from predators, but not so close to strong branches that squirrels can jump across — a distance of about 10 feet is the usual guidance ¹. Windows are the other hazard: collisions kill perhaps a billion or more birds a year in North America, and older rules about safe feeder-to-window distances are no longer thought valid — if a window is near a feeder, treat the glass with markings spaced no more than 2 inches apart, external screens or cords, rather than worrying about the distance ³.

Squirrel baffles — barriers placed between squirrels and feeders — are usually the best defense. Squirrels can jump to feeders placed less than ten feet from a tree or building, so a pole-mounted feeder in the open with a baffle below it, or a tilting baffle at least 18 inches in diameter above a hanging feeder, is the arrangement that works ¹.

Clean seed and suet feeders regularly — every week or two, and more often during heavy use or wet weather — by scrubbing off debris and washing the parts thoroughly with warm water and dish soap ¹. Hummingbird feeders need cleaning far more often, every couple of days and ideally every time they are refilled; discard the solution and clean immediately at any sign of cloudy water or black mold ¹.

If a sick bird appears — House Finch eye disease shows as red, swollen, runny or crusty eyes, and avian pox as wart-like growths around the eye, bill, legs and feet — remove the feeders the bird is using for a couple of weeks and clean the feeders and the area thoroughly, so disease is not spread at the feeder ². Salmonellosis, caused by Salmonella bacteria, is a common cause of mortality in feeder birds and spreads the same way ².

1. Project FeederWatch (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — Feeding Birds: feeder types, food types, placement and cleaning
2. Project FeederWatch — Sick Birds and Bird Diseases
3. All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — Why Birds Hit Windows, and How You Can Help Prevent It
4. All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — Ruby-throated Hummingbird: Overview and Life History