Great essay by Richard here.

I have one thing to add. I read some research somewhere earlier this
summer that studies the eating habits of hummingbirds. The study
concluded that hummers eat like we do except more often. They eat a meal
and then go off and rest or whatever. Then they eat another meal when
they are hungry. The difference, of course, being the amount of time
between meals. They concluded that the time depended on the sugar
content of their food and that this varies in nature quite a bit. The
time could vary between 15 and 30 minutes as I remember.

In terms of the ration we use in our sugar water, the study said that we
the higher the ratio of sugar to water, the less often the hummers would
need to feed. I remember the report saying that a 3:1 ratio would mean
they had to feed less often and would be a good way to entice them to
come to your feeders and then change to a 4:1 ratio to get them to visit
more frequently since they had less food each time. Since the natural
food content ratio varies, too, it really doesn't matter much as far as
the hummer's metabolism.

For what it's worth. Perhaps someone else is more familiar with this study.

David Barber
Vancouver, WA

Pterodroma at aol.com wrote:
> This topic comes up from time to time, tiresome for some no doubt, but
> I always enjoy and find the contributions from other hummingbird
> enthusiasts useful. Just our year round every day Anna's (and Rufous
> in summer) never cease to keep me entertained just by their constant
> presence, whether at the feeders or in the nearby bushes, and nary
> even a second of any given day from the first inkling of daylight to
> the last are they not around by sight and 'sound'. Indeed, the utter
> most regular and dependable denizens of my yard, garden and feeders
> above and beyond all else.
>
> Maybe I've just missed it, but I don't recall any mention of using
> anything other than a 4:1 ratio water:sugar solution and thus prepare
> the solution the same way, 4:1, year round, and all the hummers seem
> quite happy with the status quo. So, I'm a little uneasy about the
> possibility of doing winter feedings at 3:1, much less 1:1, although
> Patricia's point perhaps seems plausible, at least at the 3:1 ratio
> during the winter.
>
> It was a bit of a challenge this past winter with the prolonged snow
> and freezing cold, even through the day, keeping the feeders from
> freezing, and I just rotated them in and out of the house as needed
> during the day and brought them all in at night so they would all
> start out at room temperature come first light when those accustomed
> to the feeders presence first show up like clockwork at the very first
> hint of daylight. The 4:1 solution first starts to freeze at around
> 25-27F I've noticed, sugar being a sort of 'antifreeze' I'm guessing
> and will just remain slushy at the top. Above 27F, it doesn't freeze
> at all. Once a hard freeze does start (low 20's, teens), it proceeds
> quickly, from the top down as I think the freezing process causes the
> lighter weight water to separate and 'float' to the top while the more
> dense sugar component begins settling downward which then results in
> what I presume to be much richer solution than might be healthy, but I
> might be wrong about the physics and chemistry of what's happening in
> there and whether or not a denser concentration does much or any harm
> at all. Although the hummingbirds seem to really like it at that
> point, I try to be careful not to let it happen very often and just
> rotate them often when I first notice any ice, slush really, and with
> some of those days we had here in the lowlands last winter, that could
> be every 1-3 hours. Fortunately for us around here, such cold doesn't
> happen very often, some winters not at all. When you're dealing with
> freezing and thawing feeders, It's probably good to invert the feeders
> and give them a little shake after they've thawed to assure the top
> layer of water is mixed with the sugary part before rotating it back
> outside. Below 25F, it doesn't much matter as the whole thing
> freezes. So, my question is if a 4:1 solution starts to freeze at
> around 27F, at what temperature might it start freezing up at a 3:1
> ratio? Maybe the same resulting in an even richer mixture in the
> bottom? I'll never go 1:1; that's just too much in my opinion and I
> don't care to wind up nursing a bunch of obese and diabetic
> hummingbirds. So far, I've never tried 'heaters' since they wouldn't
> be very practical with my 7-feeder 'trapline' setup as they hang now
> scattered throughout the home grounds as the hummingbirds seem to
> really like it that way.
>
> As for preparations, I ALWAYS boil the water in a tea pot and do the
> mixings in a 1 or 2 cup size pyrex measuring cup, 4:1, and then just
> let it cool for a few hours, all day, or all night at room temperature
> and never refill anything until the solution is at least room
> temperature (or colder if a fresh solution has been stored in the
> fridge). There's never a rush to fill the feeders as long as you just
> watch them when they are getting low, and if you feel that there is a
> rush, ...like when they start peeking in the window because a favorite
> feeder is dry, they'll wait; they're not going anywhere
> far. It's certainly easy and fast to dissolve the sugar in boiling
> water then stir it a wee bit just to make sure it's all dissolved and
> the solution is crystal clear minus any particulates, plus boiling
> might actually further purify the water of any potential contaminates
> and/or perhaps some chemicals coming from the tap. AND..., as John
> Puschock points out, "/boiling helps prolong the life of the sugar
> water, i.e., helps keep it from 'going bad'. I think the idea is not
> to sterilize it to make it safe for hummingbirds but to reduce the
> number of microbes feeding on the sugar/," something I've always
> suspected or believed anyway minus the empirical evidence or urban
> legend if that's the case, just common sense. What I do know just
> from years of experience and attending all this very closely, the
> solution lasts in the feeders a lot longer, weeks, even a month or
> more in the winter, by boiling rather than just dissolving the sugar
> from running water straight from the tap. Summer and higher
> temperatures, it's a different matter, feeders have to be monitored
> closely and dumped and cleaned much more frequently if the
> hummingbirds aren't draining them fast enough which is usually not a
> problem over here. Any hint of cloudiness in the solution whether
> in the hanging feeder or even a fresh mixed batch should probably be
> dumped at that point, clean everything up, and start over.
>
> As for cleaning the feeders, I usually do so every time I fill them
> using simple hot tap water, dish detergent (lemon "Joy"), and a
> variety of brushes, then rinse thoroughly. Very simple. No bleach
> is ever needed or ever used. The only time bleach might be required
> is if the feeders have been neglected far too long and there's an
> obvious buildup of caked on mold, dirt, and scum, in which case, you,
> the hummingbird enthusiast gets an "F" :-))
>
> Richard Rowlett
> Bellevue (Eastgate), WA
>
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