Make Your Own Hummingbird & Oriole Food

We have this little perennial garden area along the walkway to our front door, which I've dubbed "the bird garden."  It has become the home to all my random bird feeders I've gotten at garage sales, thrift stores, and as gifts, as well as a little birdhouse that my great aunt Violet made which is home to a family of wrens.  It's a perfect spot as it's just outside the kitchen bay window, and a great spot to bird watch! I also have a couple feeders that stick to the window with suction cups.  It's my mini bird sanctuary.  The boys love to look out the window and watch the "birdies" and they help me fill the feeders when they get low.

It's no fun when birds dig through seed, dump it on the ground while digging for the sunflower seeds, and then you end up with a bunch of stuff you don't want sprouting all around the feeder.  We learned years ago to just buy the bags of 100% sunflower seeds.  That way the birds aren't rifling through everything else to find them.  Sure, they do still occasionally drop a seed or two but what's the worst thing that can happen if a sunflower sprouts?

Right...you get gorgeous flowers in your yard!!! Last year I pulled all the flowers that sprouted around the feeders, but this year I decided to let them go and let them grow because I love sunflowers!  They all started blooming this week and they are awesome.  Many are growing out of the rocks.

 I took a screen out of one window so I could get some bird photos.  These are really blurry but here are a few of the birds we see regularly...

Hummingbird...This feeder is actually in the back yard on our deck, but we see several hummingbirds a day at both feeders. Every night around 6 or 7 pm there are two birds who fight over this feeder!

Oriole on the oriole feeder

The prettiest oriole I've seen this year...so bright!! Can't seem to lure him onto the feeder yet...he keeps his distance.

So anyway, the point of this post...I've been making my own food for years for my hummingbird feeders and oriole feeder and I thought I'd share because it's super easy.

The Recipes:

Oriole Food: 5 parts water, 1 part sugar, red + yellow food coloring (orange)
Hummingbird Food: 4 parts water, 1 part sugar, red food coloring

Directions: Bring water to a boil.  Add sugar, stir until dissolved.  Add food coloring and cool.  Store extra food in the frig.

That's it.  You really don't have to buy any special mix.  This is the only thing I've used, and we get birds several times a day!  Be sure to empty, wash out, and refill your feeders often, especially if it's been really hot.  A good clue that you may have waited too long would be if the color has faded to clear, you see dead ants floating in it, or any other gross stuff floating in it. (You can't blame a bird for not eating that)

I like to store mine in these coffee creamer containers.  They have a great little spout for pouring into the small opening on your feeder.  I just recently made little labels for each one, and  I took the liberty of uploading my labels for you to print for free!  Download them here! I printed mine on sticky-back paper, but put a piece of mailing tape over it to help protect it.  Of course if you print them on an inkjet and get it wet, it will run.  But, hey, the printable is free so you can always make another.  There's a little reminder on the label to help you remember the recipe for refills!

Happy bird watching!