For all you bird feeders

[vided]

https://www.littlethings.com/hummingbirds-never-red-nectar/?utm_source=LTcom&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=animal

[Bob Denman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrN_U830_Gc

[Cavman]

I've known this for years. I mix up my own sugar/water solution....just clear. The feeder is red to attract them.

[vided]

I've known this for years. I mix up my own sugar/water solution....just clear. The feeder is red to attract them.

first time i saw it in print.

most of the feeders come with a packet of the red stuff, just toss it.

[ruralgirl]

Absolutely good advice. I've never used it. Just regular sugar.

Also, for those of us with hot wire fencing, don't use red insulators. They're hard to find nowadays because the problem was discovered and addressed a few years ago, but hummers were being electrocuted by probing them for nectar.

[Bob Denman]

:shocked: I stock my bird feeder with raw meat...

145625

...And carry along a shotgun, whenever I go outside to stock it up! :yikes:

[mxz600]

I've know for years that the red dye was not good but I didn't know what it actually did to them. Now I know.

[mxz600]

Also, for those of us with hot wire fencing, don't use red insulators. They're hard to find nowadays because the problem was discovered and addressed a few years ago, but hummers were being electrocuted by probing them for nectar.

Is this an April fools joke?

I know just enough about electricity to be dangerous. I don't see how a hummer could get electrocuted by the fence because they're not grounded. I think the only way would be if the bird touched the fence and the metal post at the same time.:dontknow:

[ruralgirl]

Nope, unfortunately, not a joke. Here's an article from 1983: http://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/09/us/for-hummingbirds-a-fatal-electric-lure.html

Your question about how it can happen is a good one, but I can come up with a couple possibilities from our own pasture fences. One is that tiny amounts of rainwater pool in some of our insulators. This could be the conductive extension beyond the wire that would allow a hummer who's touching (like just brushing a wingtip up against) something grounded that's immediately adjacent, like the tree trunk that the insulator is nailed to, or just a tall weed, to complete the circuit without having to actually probe all the way into the insulator.

It's also possible that the double headed nails that come with the better insulators for wooden posts or tree trunks can serve as perches. So, the little guy stands on the half inch of extended nail head that's grounded by the post, and then reaches into the insulator, and it's bye-bye birdie.

I can tell you that it doesn't take much to kill these little guys. One of our large pet geese caught a low hot wire that I ran around my vegetable garden in her armpit. It caused her to clench her wing down on it and not let go until I discovered her, to my horror. The longest she could've been there receiving the zap every two seconds was 45 minutes. I tried everything to save her, but she died a few hours later.