This video shows how to make an attractive hummingbird feeder from two used bottles and some copper wiring.
Preparing sugar-food:
As soon as your water comes to a boil, immediately measure out two cups of it in a glass measuring cup. Add to this hot water 1/2 cup of white household sugar, and stir until dissolved. This is an actual 4:1 ratio by volume; don't measure out your water first, because some of it evaporates as you heat it. Cover and allow to cool to room temperature before use. Do not use red dyes in hummingbird food.
A note on cleanliness: A glass feeder that's transparent is very helpful in the fight against bacterial growth. Remember, this is sugar water at rest in the warm spring air, so it will quickly grow life if steps aren't taken. With each fill, I thoroughly clean the feeder and all of its components. I take extra care on the insides, and of course, with those red marbles. I wash with a very tiny amount of homemade cleaner*, and then I rinse by alternating between hot and cold tap water, which is lethal to many bacteria. Although there will be some variance because of temperature and weather conditions, a good rule is that food should not be allowed to remain in a feeder for more than a week. A great trick for cleaning inside of a bottle is to stuff in a few sheets of toilet paper, give it a drop of dish soap, and fill it halfway with water. Then shake until well after the TP has turned into a slushy mess- the paper's pulp will gently scrub the inside of the bottle for you. Afterwards, you can just pour the sludge right down the drain.
*The cleaner I recommend is as follows. In a spray bottle (I use an old Windex bottle), add: 200 mL blue Dawn dish detergent, 200 mL white vinegar, and 200 mL water. That's a 1:1:1 ratio; equal parts of all three ingredients by volume. Shake to thicken, and shake each time before you spray. It goes on like a wet foam that will slowly run down vertical surfaces, and it will break down pretty tough oils or dried out messes. If you make this stuff, you will start using it for just about everything. Try it out on the tub, but let it sit for an hour before you rinse it away.
Glass and marbles: watch out for some of the red marbles/gems that you might find at the craft stores, because not all of them are actually red glass. Some have a red coating on them that make them not suitable for this project. Certainly, there are also alternatives to adding something red to the food bottle; on one of our feeders, I cut red marbles in half with the wet-saw, and then epoxied them directly to the sides of the glass feeder. That was three or four seasons ago, and it's held up just fine. One last thing: be careful dropping marbles in to a glass bottle- I cracked one of my new feeders doing that. It still doesn't leak, but now it's a ticking bomb. Happy spring, and thanks for reading ;)
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Music:
Desert City Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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