okay so today we're gonna do something fun we're gonna compare premixed electro
nectar by Kaytee to pure water mix with sugar which is what most people normally
feed their hummingbirds and we're gonna see if there's a preference we're gonna
use a quarter cup of table sugar which is pure cane sugar with pure water and
this is the label of the electro nectar by Kaytee again the ingredients are pretty
standard there is a preservative in it although after you open it you do have
to put this in the refrigerator they want you to shake it up
there's the guaranteed analysis right there 80% moisture which of course could
be water potassium is point zero thirty five percent sodium which is basically
salt the minimum is point zero zero four and the max is point zero two percent
now we're going to use two aspects incorporated hummingbird feeders here
there are suction cup pieces that stick to your windows I like to put them up
there first before I fill them we're using one cup of pure filtered water
here and again the Kaytee label here that comes over the bottle says why not read
well I guess the hummingbirds find the red based on the feeder since our
feeders have been in place for a long time anyway they're gonna find it just
fine this is pre-mixed as I mentioned before or 64 fluid ounces I got this on
Amazon and I'll provide a link below for those who want to check these out now
once the trays are in for these two hummingbird feeders they are eight ounce
window mounted feeders I like to pour it in after they're stuck to the window and
also you can make sure they're leveled up and we'll just close them here each
of them has three drinking ports and again we're going to look at these to
see if the hummingbirds can show a preference and I did put a label on the
one on the left there and we'll see it from inside the house there it is
electro nectar labeled down low and here it is a male ruby-throated hummingbird
feeding at it and they like to try the different ports there they're at the
same height they're underneath the overhang of the house so they're out of
the rain and so forth and we're just going to watch them here for a couple of
days and I'm going to find out what they - here we have one at the normal makes
sugar water which is what most people use they like to boil the water and make
sure there's nothing in it that can harm the hummingbirds you also need to rotate
this out every few days to make sure that it doesn't develop bacteria it is
high fructose it is a high sugar content liquid so let's keep it clean for
these hummingbirds and this is of course is a male ruby-throated hummingbird and
he is on the one that has the Kaytee premix in it electro nectar whether the
birds know by taste if they have nutritional needs that are not being met
by the regular sugar water I don't know primarily the sugar water
for hummingbirds is an energy source just as it is for honeybees they consume
a lot of energy as they fly around they also eat a bunch of bugs so they did
start to come to the Elektra nectar by Katy there may be two to one although
it's not a dramatic difference they come to the sugar water and then I thought
you know let's toss another feeder in here and so we've got again another
aspects incorporated 12 ounce size feeder with for drinking stations and
it's got that little mote in the middle there if you have problems with ants
coming down and it has a brass hanging hook here and again it will hold 12
ounces we'll go over that and in case you don't know what to mix it up with
it's already emboss on the bottom here hummingbird nectar one part table sugar
four parts water and this is the company that designs and makes it although I've
seen this design being sold by other companies and it maxes out here at 12
ounces so it has a good capacity remember the other two feeders that are
stuck on the window are only eight ounce feeders and there it is hanging
and we get a mail ruby-throated hummingbird right away coming to it and
I thought it would be interesting to see when we have all three of the feeders up
if they notice a difference in the liquid that's inside so let's check that
out and here they are all three hanging together and the one
of course it's labeled lower right is the electro nectar and what we found is
the hummingbirds did come to the one that was hanging from the overhang of
the house there and they would start there but then they would skip over and
go to the electro nectar and by Kaytee so they are showing you know a slight
preference for that and again this was just an observation that occurred over a
couple of days so I would say of course they're gonna go after all the different
whether it's sugar water that you've mixed or whether it's the electro nectar
by Kaytee again that has the electrolytes in it I don't know if they know the
difference but they did often start at hanging feeder and then jumped as this
one will right on to the window-mounted electro nectar filled feeder and they
started to ignore the other window-mounted feeder that only had
sugar water in it so I would say the hummingbird showed a preference what do
you think thanks for watching look for links to the feeders and the nectar down
below