Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!rex!uflorida!haven!purdue!bu-cs!encore!maxzilla!kaufman
From: kaufman@maxzilla.Encore.COM (Lar Kaufman)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: hummingbird feeders and nectar
Message-ID: <6283@xenna.Encore.COM>
Date: 21 Apr 89 21:00:18 GMT
References: <2806@lindy.Stanford.EDU> <1360@naucse.UUCP> <8306@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Sender: news@Encore.COM
Reply-To: kaufman@maxzilla.UUCP (Lar Kaufman)
Organization: Encore Computer Corp, Marlboro, MA
Lines: 26

In article <8306@ihlpf.ATT.COM> jimf@ihlpf.ATT.COM (YES) writes:
>In article <1360@naucse.UUCP>, rrw@naucse.UUCP (Robert Wier) writes:
>> From article <2806@lindy.Stanford.EDU>, by GC.SUL@forsythe.stanford.edu (MIKE SULLIVAN):
>> > It's recommended NOT to put red food color in hummingbird nectar. It
>> > is unnecessary and harmful to the birds. 
>
>I know it's popular to assume that every food additive is harmful, but
>do you have a real source that backs up this statement. I have a book,
>written by a vet, that recommends food coloring as an attractant. Of
>course, if your feeder is red, you don't need it anyway.

It probably isn't particularly harmful, but it certainly is
unneccessary, so why do it?  Just about any hummingbird feeder has a
red tip on the feeder tube, and a hummingbird will be attracted to it.
If you have a feeder without a red tip, just paint the tip with red
nail polish (while the feeder is clean and dry, of course).  You can
make a waterer for a guinea pig or rat cage do the job just fine by
painting the tip of the tube red.  It works best to paint about a
quarter of an inch on the inside of the tube, too.
 
  -lar

 "the only way boss                      Lar Kaufman <= my opinions
 to keep hope in the world
 is to keep changing its
 population frequently"                          kaufman@Encore.com