in a word:
:no:DO NOT DO IT ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !:no:
got your attention?
hummingbirds CANNOT metabolize anything other than sugar syrup, you will kill the hummers with anything else. oh and dont bother with red food coloring, again the hummers aren't attracted to it, and the extra stuff is dangerous.
as long as your feeder has some red on it, even a red ribbon will work, they will go to it. and feel free to leave it up all year, it will not interfere with their migration. just make sure to clean it and replace syrup when it is hot out to prevent fermentation. and if you put more than one out, make sure the little buggers cant see the other feeder, they are VERY territorial!
here is the magic recipe: (should be easy for us beeks)
boil 4 cups of water, add 1 cup sugar (4 h2o:1 sugar), bring to a boil, remove from heat and cool. the boiling of the sugar syrup kills any mold spores, etc...but in the summers i just boil the water and add the sugar without boiling, because the syrup goes fast...we only have ruby throats here on long island, the rest of the country gets more variety!
