Hi John,
Thanks so much for caring so deeply about birds' welfare that you're willing to sacrifice profits in service of their health and your integrity. You're a rara avis. :)
Nectar Defender contains copper sulfate. Years ago I was asked to help create exactly such a product, and I refused. Despite what the internet and the manufacturer (Sapphire Labs) may say, copper absolutely can accumulate to toxic levels in birds.
To my knowledge, no peer reviewed tests have been conducted on the safety of various amounts of copper sulfate for hummingbirds. Interestingly, the manufacturer doesn't disclose the amount they use. They do, however, have a very long recitation of numbers on their website that I find exceedingly confusing and misleading.
So I did some math for them. In nature, hummers likely consume about 2 ug (micrograms) of copper per day, given the copper content of fruit flies. From the Sapphire Labs website, a reasonable guess would be that Nectar Defender contains 5 ppm copper. If a bird drank only ND, it would consume 50 ug copper/day, or about 25x the amount it would get in the diet it evolved to eat, tolerate, and thrive on.
So using the precautionary principle, it's exceedingly unwise to offer them anything but sucrose in water. Your commercial mixes that only contain sugar and water (assuming in the appropriate proportions), should be entirely safe, and I heartily endorse them. :)
Sincere thanks again for your integrity. I sure wish every manufacturer and purveyor displayed your ethics.
Best,Janine
On Wednesday, February 11, 2026 at 01:28:08 PM CST, Wild Birds Unlimited <wbulittlerock...> wrote:
Janine -
I certainly bow to your knowledge in this area. So I just want to touch on a couple points for clarification:
- The "commercial mixes" we sell are just sucrose - no additives (see #2, below) or colors, and this is intentional as I agree with you 100% about using just sucrose. Now, while it may seem pointless to sell sugar in small packs, you might be surprised to learn that a significant number of people do not use sugar in their homes OR simply prefer the convenience of the small, pre-measured packs of "Nectar Mix" we sell, even when we tell them it is just plain, white sugar. So, I believe it is fair to suggest that people check the ingredients on commercial nectars to be sure they do not contain additives, colors or anything but sucrose, but to say 'no commercial nectars' is denying the realities of consumer preferences. We also sell premade nectar that is just a 1:4 sucrose to water ratio as well and we sell a lot of it simply due to convenience even though nectar is so easy to make.
- That being said, we DID bring in a commercially available nectar mix with added minerals this past Fall for use during the Winter, but your comments have convinced me to pull the remaining packets off the shelf. Thank you for the education in this area!
- Along with that, I reluctantly carry a product called Nectar Defender that is essentially a formula of food grade colloidal silver or copper (I don't recall which) in distilled water as an additive that helps prevent bacterial growth and therefore allows nectar to last 2-3 times longer in the feeder. I do not like it because I feel it simply encourages people not to clean their feeders as often as they should (1-3 days based on outside temps) which an alarming number of people do already, some going weeks or even months between cleanings. I had multiple conversations with the developer of the Nectar Defender product regarding my concerns before I finally went ahead and put it out last Summer. Do you have any data that would support not using this product other than a general 'no additives' rule that I can use to educate other store owners? I have gone ahead and (gladly) pulled it from the shelves as well. Again, thank you for this information.
Thank you again for your expertise. As I mentioned to someone earlier, although I have been doing this for 21 years, I have a thimble full of knowledge in an ocean full of facts, so I still have much to learn! I appreciate your educational information!
John SommerGeneral ManagerWild Birds Unlimited - Little Rock1818 N Taylor StreetLittle Rock, AR 82207501.666.4210From: JANINE PERLMAN <jpandjf...>
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 12:00 PM
To: <arbird-l...> <arbird-l...>; Wild Birds Unlimited <wbulittlerock...>
Subject: Re: Hummingbird food debate I'm a comparative nutritional biochemist specializing in native N. American birds, and a federally permitted wild bird rehabilitator. One of my specialties is hummingbirds. I co-created (what appear to be the only) reliable, complete, balanced diets for captive orphaned, sick and injured hummingbirds currently in use by rehabilitators.
Please do not ever put anything in your feeder other than a 1:4 solution of sugar (table sugar; sucrose):water. No commercial mixes, no dyes, no additives of any kind.
In nature, nectar supplies water, sugar and the calories that sugar supplies. As John says, hummingbirds require nectar in exactly that form. Hummers receive the other nutrients they need from insects, and from a- or post-biotic mineral sources (tiny calciferous grit, ash, etc.). These nutrients include protein, lipids, vitamins, and minerals in exceedingly exact amounts and proportions.
Hummingbirds have instinctual cravings to find and consume what they need, when they need it.Their needs are very dynamic, with dramatic changes over short periods, and they must choose what they consume, every day.
If we feed them anything other than sugar-water, they are forced to consume nutrients that will throw their diet off balance, resulting in toxicities and/or deficiencies, illness and death. Obviously, anything a breeding female consumes is reflected in the composition of her eggs, and is regurgitated to her very vulnerable nestlings. The outcome is certain to be negative and likely lethal.
Even overwintering outdoor hummingbirds should not be fed a mineral-added nectar, because it will unbalance the insects and other consumables they're finding in nature. If weather conditions are such that a bird will unequivocally be unable to forage insects for over a week -- and this means severe, prolonged winter weather -- a knowledgeable hummingbird rehabilitator (there are probably fewer than half a dozen in the U.S. and Canada) should be contacted for advice.
Best wishes,Janine
Janine Perlman, Ph.D.Alexander, AR
On Wednesday, February 11, 2026 at 09:43:02 AM CST, Wild Birds Unlimited <wbulittlerock...> wrote:
Honey is NOT a viable option for hummingbirds. I don't understand why it is so danged hard to get people to understand thatthe best, closest thing to natural flower nectar, is a water and table sugar mixture at a ratio of 4 parts water (1C) to 1 Part WHITE table sugar (1/4C). Do not use ANY other alternative. Demerara sugar and similar (any 'brown' or natural sugar) have too much iron which the hummers cannot process and will eventually be fatal. Sugar substitutes like stevia or monk fruit (Zero-Calorie Sweeteners) have no calories for the birds to utilize. Agave nectar is too high in fructose which the hummers cannot process. Table sugar is sucrose (whether beet sugar or cane sugar - yes, there are infinitesimal differences in the two as far as impurities, but they are so small as to be negligible), which is what flower nectar is primarily made up of. I shouldn't even need to mention this, but Splenda and other artificial sweeteners are also hard no's!
Natural flower nectars generally run on the range of 3:1 to 5 :1 which is why ornithologists have chosen the middle ground of 4:1. There are a couple hummingbird mixes on the market that have added mineral nutrients in them, but generally, these are unnecessary during months when flowers are in bloom since hummers get the required nutrients from flowers (they are never feeding only at your feeders if there are nectaring flowers around). This is a good point to add in that you should be planting true native flowers in your yards. Cultivars and hybrids often 'give-up' one thing to get another, such as giving up nectar production get a certain color, so they are never the best option. This trade-off is why flowers from florists often have no scent these day...it is lost in the hybridization process to attain bigger or more colorful blooms.
During winter months, if you have an over-wintering hummingbird, I WOULD highly recommend using nectar mixes that have minerals in them (please don't try to make your own...hummers are very small, and small errors in mixtures could prove fatal) to help get the hummers the nutrients they may not otherwise be getting during that time of year. I know people think they are 'doing what's best' by using natural sweeteners but they are literally killing hummingbirds by using them. Shame, shame, shame on this so-called "nature tour guide" for suggesting this. This particular issue is so simple and so basic that it would cause me to call into questions any other "facts" they told you on your hike.
What follows is the Google AI overview which is correct in general. 100+ websites will reiterate this information in part or in whole.
Honey should never be used to feed hummingbirds because it causes rapid, fatal fungal infections on their tongues and in their mouths. When diluted with water, honey fosters dangerous mold and bacteria growth. It also has a different sugar composition than natural nectar, which is hard for them to digest. Here is why honey is dangerous:
- Fatal Fungus: Honey, especially when diluted in a feeder, promotes the growth of fungi (like Aspergillus) that can cause severe, fatal infections in a hummingbird's tongue.
- Physical Harm: Because honey is sticky, it can clog feeding ports and coat the bird’s beak and feathers.
- Digestive Issues: The complex sugars in honey are difficult for hummingbirds to digest.
- Bacteria Growth: Honey can contain botulism spores, which can be dangerous or fatal to hummingbirds.
John SommerWild Birds Unlimited - Little Rock1818 N Taylor StreetLittle Rock, AR 82207501.666.4210
From: The Birds of Arkansas Discussion List <ARBIRD-L...> on behalf of Karen Garrett <kjgarrett84...>
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2026 8:50 PM
To: <ARBIRD-L...> <ARBIRD-L...>
Subject: Re: Hummingbird food debate
I feel sure that I've read warnings about some kind of fungus in honey.
On Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 8:44 PM Lynn Foster <lfoster5211...> wrote:
From National Audubon magazine, https://www.audubon.org/magazine/hummingbird-feeding-faqs Q: Should I use brown sugar, honey, or molasses instead of white sugar?
A: No, only use refined white sugar. Other sweetening agents have additional ingredients that can prove detrimental to the hummingbirds. Never use artificial sweeteners to make hummingbird nectar.
On Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 8:13 PM Alyson Hoge <000002096ce84bce-dmarc-request...> wrote:
All —
Has anyone ever heard of feeding hummingbirds honey mixed with water? Has there been any scientific research into it?
This past week, a nature tour guide said that instead of feeding sugar mixed with water, we should use honey because it has nutrients lacking in sugar syrup.
But do hummers access honey in the wild?
What I’ve always heard is:
— One part sugar to four parts water approximates the nectar that hummers drink.
— This combo supplies energy while insects supply everything else.
— Don’t make the solution with anything other than white granulated sugar or maybe fructose.
I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts about this.
The suggested ratio was 2 parts honey to 1 part water.
