Hummingbirds are beautiful, energetic little creatures.  The way they flit around from flower to flower, always humming a pretty tune, make them perfect guests for backyards.  They are very easy to feed, too, and you can amass quite a gathering of eager birds by simply installing a couple hummingbird feeders on your porch or in a tree.

A word of caution, however: hummingbirds are greedy little buggers and a family of them can quickly wipe out your food supply.  If you buy commercial hummingbird food from the store, this can quickly add up to being a very expensive hobby.  Fortunately, hummingbird food is very easy and extremely inexpensive to make at home.  All you need is sugar, water and optional food coloring.To make your own hummingbird food, boil one cup of water for the average-sized bird feeder.  Add one-quarter cup of sugar, stirring thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved.  If you would like, you can add food coloring in bright colors such as red to help attract the birds, but at our house they have no trouble finding the food even without coloring.

Be sure you completely cool the water mixture before you put it in the feeder or you could seriously injure an unsuspecting hummingbird that took a drink too soon.  Once the mixture is completely cool, pour it in your feeder and feed it as normal.

Homemade hummingbird food costs just pennies and can be made in a matter of minutes.  The costs savings can allow you to add more feeders for even more hummingbird enjoyment!