Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 15:01:09 -0600
From: Nancy L Newfield <colibri@WEBDSI.COM>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Preparing Nectar

Stan,

At 02:06 PM 3/18/02 -0600, Stan wrote:

>On the Message Board of BIRDS & BLOOMS
>http://bbs.reimanpub.com/bulletinboard.asp
>http://bbs.reimanpub.com/bulletinboard.asp
>
>the question has been raised about preparing nectar: boil
>water with sugar? boil water, then add sugar? or is
>boiling it necessary?

I don't think there is a single "only" way to prepare sugar water. I like
to add boiling water to the sugar. The boiling water aids the sugar to
dissolve. I also think that by using boiling water, the process by which
the solution spoils is retarded a bit. This may really only be adding an
hour or so to the "shelf life", but I like to do it that way.

There is no reason why the sugar cannot be added to the boiling water for the same result - if one chooses to boil. I don't believe boiling is truly
necessary. However, if the sugar is added to the water and the resulting
solution is permitted to continue boiling, the sugar water will become more
concentrated than the "recipe" is intended to be - and that is an issue
we've discussed abundantly on Humnet!

NLN

Nancy L Newfield
Casa Colibrí
Metairie, LA USA

===============================

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 15:20:25 -0600
From: Lanny Chambers <lanny@HUMMINGBIRDS.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Preparing Nectar

On 3/18/02 14:06, Stan, Apple Valley/St. Paul, MN [44.44N, -93.10W]
stan1bb@FRONTIERNET.NET wrote:

>the question has been raised about preparing nectar: boil
>water with sugar? boil water, then add sugar? or is
>boiling it necessary?

I agree with Nancy. I no longer boil, I just use tapwater. Most, if not
all, of the stuff that makes a hummer feeder cloudy probably got there on
a hummer's bill anyway.

Lanny Chambers

================================

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 17:14:01 EST
From: Terry Davis <Trystla@AOL.COM>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Preparing Nectar
-

Lanny,

Come live in La. and put out un-boiled sugar water in June, look at
it after 2 days, and then tell me all about it. For those that have those
prime feeding stations and have to re-fill everything twice a day this might
be fine during such periods of high feeder use. Maybe it's just the Red River
water, but even ONE day after filling un-boiled here in N. La. that water
sure looks mighty funky. I learned the hard way- and to be honest with you I'm occasionally quite lazy when it comes to doing it the correct way.

shh, don't tell anybody,

Terry Davis
zone 8a ( and others)
Bossier City, La.

===========================

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 17:21:28 -0600
From: Lanny Chambers <lanny@HUMMINGBIRDS.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Preparing Nectar

On 3/18/02 16:14, Terry Davis Trystla@aol.com wrote:

>Come live in La. and put out un-boiled sugar water in June, look at
>it after 2 days, and then tell me all about it.

Does it really last any longer if you boil it? The first bird to dip its
bill into the feeder inoculates it with bacteria and mold picked up at
flowers, and the process is off and running. FWIW, in July I have to
change my feeders every two days whether I boil or not. I just don't fill
them with more syrup than will be used in two days, and keep the rest in
the fridge.
Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, USA

==============================

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 15:40:49 -0800
From: mhast27 <mhast27@COX.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Preparing Nectar

Out here in sunny CA you really don't have to boil water ..just use tap
water mix in the sugar and fill clean bottles . what is left refrigerate in
clean jars ..I have been using Jesse Hendrix method of when you take the
bottles down you put them in bleach water , the ones from the day before go
into clean water and those in the clean bucket go inside to be filled ...
Of course it goes in reverse take the clean ones from the clear water go
inside and fill, take them out to be hung, bring the dirty ones to the
bleach bucket exchange there the bleach to the clear bucket...It sounds confusing but it seems to work very well ....I never have had a dirty ,moldy
,bottle since I started this a few years back ...Thanks to all the help I
have gotten from the humnetters...Missy

==================

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 20:37:25 EST
From: Terry Davis <Trystla@AOL.COM>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Preparing Nectar

Lanny/ hummerhomeboys/girls,

I agree with you about the first bird to stick it's bill...and all
the rest of that stuff -it makes alot of sense, BUT, some things just work.
Whether it's the Jimi or Jesse Hendrix method, White Willow bark or
whatever, it's all good. I think we have some sort of bacterial halo situated
over Central Park here in Bossier City that is quite incapable of reading.
One thing stands for sure.....if you want funkified in one or two days here, then don't boil. It's just as simple as Johnboy is complex. Btw, where are
you J'boy dude?

Terry

======================

Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 10:32:15 -0600
From: steve locke <loc_ke@HOTMAIL.COM>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Preparing Nectar-Dishpan hands

Humnet:
I agree that it is important to keep my feeder clean. But who uses
bleach to wash their dishes? It doesn't sound very appealing, and our
olfactory abilities are not the best in the animal kingdom either to detect
'all clear'. I would like to avoid the residue of chemicals for myself and
the birds. Is What is good enough for me- good enough for them?
What about dilute dishsoap?
I usually trust pulic drinking fountains, possibly at my own
peril. In this age of antimicrobial frenzy, can plain water and a good
mechanical disturbance like scrubbing remove the danger of microbes to the
birds?
A swan-necked flask would make an attractive feeder, but would Pasteur agree to filling it with Penicillin?

And now for a little fire-water music,
Steve Locke
New Orleans