Last updated: August 21, 2026
The first hummingbird of the year shows up at the window, hovers where the feeder was last summer, and leaves. Suddenly the feeder needs filling today, and the internet offers eleven different recipes with eleven different confident tones. Some of them tell you to add red dye. Some tell you to make it stronger for cold nights. One of them, inevitably, suggests honey.
There is no need for eleven. Two of the most cited organizations in North American bird conservation publish the same simple recipe, and everything that deviates from it is somebody’s improvement rather than anybody’s research. Here is what the sources actually say, why each part of it is there, and what to do about the variations people keep asking about.
This article contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
Quick Answer
What is the hummingbird nectar recipe?
- Audubon publishes one quarter cup of refined white sugar mixed with one cup of boiling water, stirred until dissolved and cooled before it goes out.
- Cornell Lab’s Project FeederWatch gives the same proportion, adding one part sugar to four parts boiling water and stirring.
- No red food coloring. Project FeederWatch says not to add it, and Audubon says it is unnecessary and could prove harmful.
- No honey. Audubon says honey can promote dangerous fungal growth, and specifies refined white sugar instead.
Bottom line: white sugar and water in the published proportion, cooled, clear, and changed often. Nothing else goes in.
The Recipe, With the Sources
Audubon’s published hummingbird nectar recipe is one quarter cup of refined white sugar mixed with one cup of boiling water, stirred until the sugar is dissolved. Cornell Lab’s Project FeederWatch describes the same proportion in ratio form, adding one part sugar to four parts boiling water and stirring. Both are describing the same mixture at different batch sizes.
Scale it however you like as long as the proportion holds. Two of those quarter cups of sugar to two cups of water is the same drink, and a large batch keeps in the refrigerator so a refill does not mean starting from the kettle every second day.
Which Sugar, and Why Only That One
Refined white sugar. Audubon’s recipe specifies it by name, and the same page tells you not to substitute honey, which it says can promote dangerous fungal growth. That is the beginning and the end of the ingredient list, and there is no accompanying instruction to enrich it with anything.
Brown sugar, raw sugar, turbinado, molasses and artificial sweeteners are all outside what the published recipes call for. They are not exotic dangers so much as unnecessary departures from a recipe that two major organizations already agree on, and the case against each of them is covered properly in our guide to the sugar water ratio and the variations people ask about.
Organic and Unbleached Sugar
This question comes up constantly and it is a fair one. Both published recipes specify refined white sugar, and less refined sugars carry more of what refining removes. If you cannot point to a source telling you a particular sugar is fine, the safe move is to use the one the recipe names rather than the one that feels healthier.
Boiling: What It Is For
Both published recipes use boiling water. Audubon’s instruction is to mix the sugar and boiling water until the sugar is dissolved, and Project FeederWatch phrases it as adding the sugar to boiling water and stirring. The heat is doing the dissolving rather than sterilizing the mixture for the week ahead.
What boiling does not do is keep the nectar good once it is in the feeder. A boiled batch in a warm feeder spoils on the same schedule as any other, which is why change frequency matters more than preparation ever does.
Cooling, Storing and Batch Size
Let it cool to room temperature before it goes into the feeder. Hot nectar is a poor idea for the bird and for a plastic reservoir, and Audubon’s pest guidance specifically describes offering fresh, room temperature nectar when you change the filler.
A larger batch stored covered in the refrigerator turns the refill into a two minute job, and that convenience is the single biggest predictor of whether people actually change nectar on schedule. Make what you will use within a few days rather than a jug that lives at the back of the shelf for a fortnight.
No Red Dye, and What to Do Instead
Cornell Lab’s Project FeederWatch states plainly that you should not add red food coloring, describing it as harmful to birds. Audubon’s recipe page says red food coloring is not necessary and could also prove harmful. Two independent sources, same instruction, no ambiguity.
The color that actually pulls hummingbirds in comes from the feeder rather than the liquid. Red ports, a red base, a red bottle collar, all of that does the work, which is why almost every feeder on the market is red somewhere. Our hummingbird feeder guide covers what else to look for once the color question is settled.
What the Sources Say, Point by Point
Every row below is what Audubon and Cornell Lab’s Project FeederWatch publish rather than our interpretation of it, and where a source does not address something we have said so.
| Question | What Audubon publishes | What Project FeederWatch publishes | Practical note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proportion | A quarter cup of sugar to a cup of boiling water | One part sugar to four parts boiling water | Same mixture, different batch size |
| Sugar type | Refined white sugar | Sugar, in the ratio above | Use plain white granulated |
| Boiling | Mix with boiling water until dissolved | Add to boiling water and stir | Heat is for dissolving |
| Red dye | Not necessary and could prove harmful | Do not add red food coloring | Let the feeder be the red part |
| Honey | Can promote dangerous fungal growth | Not addressed on that page | Keep it out of the feeder |
| Changing it | In warm weather, change twice per week | Change every couple of days | Sooner if it looks cloudy |
How Often to Change It
Audubon’s pest guidance says to change the filler twice per week in warm weather and to mop up spills with a sponge and hot water at least once a week. Cornell Lab’s Project FeederWatch is stricter still, describing hummingbird feeders as needing attention every couple of days, or ideally with each refill, because of mold and fungal growth.
Read those together as a floor rather than a ceiling. Cloudy nectar, black specks in the reservoir or a film on the ports means change it now regardless of what day of the week it is, and our guide to cleaning a hummingbird feeder walks through the actual routine.
Why a Feeder That Comes Apart Matters
Change frequency is a hardware decision as much as a discipline one. A feeder you can take apart in seconds and rinse under a tap gets cleaned twice a week; a bottle feeder with a narrow neck and a fussy collar gets cleaned when you feel guilty. Our easy to clean feeder guide is essentially an argument about this.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the correct hummingbird nectar recipe? Audubon publishes a quarter cup of refined white sugar mixed with one cup of boiling water, stirred until dissolved and cooled. Cornell Lab’s Project FeederWatch gives the same proportion as one part sugar to four parts boiling water.
Do I have to boil the water? Both published recipes use boiling water to dissolve the sugar. It is not a sterilization step that protects the nectar for the week, so boiling does not reduce how often the feeder needs emptying and cleaning.
Can I use honey instead of sugar? No. Audubon says not to substitute honey because it can promote dangerous fungal growth, and specifies refined white sugar in the recipe instead.
Should hummingbird nectar be red? No. Project FeederWatch says not to add red food coloring, calling it harmful to birds, and Audubon calls it unnecessary and potentially harmful. The red parts of the feeder are what attract the birds.
How long does homemade nectar keep in the fridge? A few days is a sensible working horizon for a covered batch. Make what you will get through rather than a large jug, since the point of a batch is to make frequent changes easy rather than to stretch them out.
Is store bought nectar concentrate worth buying? It is convenient and it saves nothing else. The homemade version uses one ingredient and a kettle, and it lets you avoid the colored products entirely, which both Audubon and Project FeederWatch advise against.
The Bottom Line
Refined white sugar and water in the proportion Audubon and Cornell Lab’s Project FeederWatch both publish, dissolved in boiling water, cooled, and put out clear. No dye, no honey, no improvements. Then change it on the schedule those same sources give, twice a week in warm weather at minimum and sooner if it looks cloudy, because the recipe is the easy half and the changing is the half that actually keeps the feeder safe. Read next: our hummingbird feeder guide, the feeders that actually come apart, and the ratio variations people ask about.