Is Red-Dyed hummingbird nectar safe for your Hummingbirds? Not likely!
You know the stuff… that bottled, cheap red fluid you see at Walmart, your local home improvement chain or even your grocery store. You may even see a neighbor “giving it away to a good home” on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or on the Nextdoor app. But what’s the deal, anyway? Is it even usable? Is it safe for the Hummingbirds? Let’s look into it a bit further and I’ll let you decide for yourselves!
Before we start though, let’s talk about our favorite DIY hummingbird recipe. It’s easy! So easy even a caveman could do it!
DIY Hummingbird Nectar Recipe:
Add 4 parts water to a small pot and boil.
Stir in 1 part white, table sugar.
Remove the super hot liquid from the burner and let it cool off until it’s at room temperature. (For speed, you can refrigerate it to cool it down a bit more quickly).
If you already have been using your hummingbird feeders Be sure to thoroughly clean out your feeder(s).
Refill them and hanging them back up for the birds! That’s all there is to it!
You don’t have to take our word for it though; the Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute has an article about this specifically:
Now that we have the recipe (our "Go-To", clean, safe and not to mention quick method) out of the way, let’s get back down to it: Is the red-dyed, store-bought hummingbird nectar safe to serve to your feathered-friends?
First: Let’s look at a few of the brands out there.
The number 1 result that comes up in most of my searches seems to be “Perky Pet Concentrated Hummingbird Nectar Sugar” which claims that it is 100% Sucrose. Now, I looked further into this (as you might have expected), and I found that Sucrose IS metabolized at nearly a 100% rate by hummingbirds, making it a definite “YES” for feeding to hummingbirds. However, there is a glaring detail in this product that just doesn’t add up. It’s red in color. The Smithsonian link above even states specifically that you should mix sugar and water and avoid using any dye. Why does Perky Pet do this then? Well, it seems to be a marketing ploy to get consumers to purchase it. People are far more attracted to the red dye and red-colored packaging than the birds they hope to attract.
Reading further on this subject, and trying to help point you to the correct information more easily, I found this site by Sheri L. Williamson, who is a Hummingbird researcher that has publicly called out the makers of these hummingbird foods for the dyes that are unnecessary and also harmful. Their responses certainly left the feeling that they really just don’t care. Take a look at her blog site below!
Are you curious to know more about Hummingbird Feeders, Nectar or something else? What details would you like to see? Thanks for visiting and reading! -BOWC