Hummingbird nectar calculator
The recipe is simple — 4 parts water to 1 part white sugar, no red dye, no honey. Scale it to any batch below, and get the exact amounts plus how often to swap it out.
Make it
- Mix ½ cup sugar into 2 cups hot water until fully dissolved.
- Let it cool to room temperature before filling the feeder.
- No red dye, no honey, no substitutes — plain white sugar only.
- Store extra in the fridge up to a week.
Change it often: every 4-5 days in mild weather, and every 2 days once it's above ~85 °F (29 °C) — cloudy nectar has spoiled and can harm birds. Rinse the feeder each refill.
Common 4:1 batches
| Finished batch | Water | White sugar |
|---|---|---|
| 1¼ cups | 1 cup | ¼ cup |
| 2½ cups | 2 cups | ½ cup |
| 5 cups | 4 cups | 1 cup |
Cleaning rhythm: replace nectar every 1–2 days in hot weather and every few days in milder weather; discard it immediately if cloudy or moldy. Wash ports and reservoir before refilling.
What to put it in
Nectar spoils fast in heat, so the feeder that gets cleaned is the one that comes apart. These are our two highest-scored on exactly that.
- First Nature Hummingbird84Bird4.5$12.07
Value-minded hosts of busy hummingbird traffic wanting a 32oz, 10-port feeder that's easy to clean.
- 4.6$28.96
Birders wanting the easy-clean saucer benchmark: unbreakable polycarbonate, built-in ant moat, and bee-resistant ports.
Keeping it clean between batches
Nectar spoils fast in heat, mold starts in the ports rather than the reservoir, and ants find a feeder before the hummingbirds do. These are the two we score highest for keeping one usable between batches.
- 4.6
Anyone who would rather not boil and cool sugar water: a naturally clear formula with no added colouring, ready to use straight from the bottle.
- 4.6$13.90
Ants, which are the one feeder problem cleaning cannot fix: it hangs between the hanger and the feeder and holds water ants will not cross.
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