Is honey made from hummingbird feeder nectar good or does it make the honey red if it has food coloring?
The honey bees have horded all of the nectar in the hummingbird feeder. Most of the hive raided about 1 quart of nectar today. Will this affect their honey? Will manufactured nectar cause the honey to taste or turn out different from honey made strictly from flower pollen?
It’s hard to say exactly, but I think nectar manufactured for hummingbirds may be different than flower nectar (different sugar used – sucrose vs glucose), therefore, the concentrated nectar, honey, will have a different composition and so may taste different. It’s impossible to say without knowing the sugar used in the hummingbird nectar. Also, the red coloring which attracts the hummingbirds would not disappear as the water is evaporated as the honey is formed, so it will remain in the honey produced.
I’m not saying there will be anything wrong with the honey, just that it will not be EXACTLY the same as honey from flower nectar because of the different sugar used and the coloring. Niether will ‘hurt’ the honey or the bees though.
The red coloring is added because hummingbirds are mostly attracted to the color red.
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Comments
Comment from jim z
Time October 22, 2010 at 8:15 pm
I am sure the bees can use the sugar which is very close to what flowers produce to produce honey and it would be good. It is interesting that if you used honey in your feeder as the source of sugar, it would kill the hummingbirds. I don’t know why that is though.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hummingbird/msg04221517379.html
This said why. Honey rapidly ferments and becomes toxic.
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Comment from Michael R
Time October 22, 2010 at 8:49 pm
The "nectar" you are buying is nothing more than sugar water with red dye attached. It isn’t going to hurt the honey bees at all. However, you are spending WAY too much to feed your hummingbirds. You can do the same thing by bringing 4 parts water and 1part sugar to a boil (or close to a boil) and allowing the sugar syrup a chance to cool before filling your feeder. It actually isn’t necessary to bring it to a boil, but the sugar dissolves easier and it slows down the growth of bacteria and mold. If the hummingbirds in your area stick around when it starts getting really cold, raise the sugar concentration to 3 parts water and 1 part sugar. That will keep the solution from freezing (down to about 25 degrees) and it helps the birds get through the colder weather. The food coloring isn’t necessary, and there are experts who think it may not be good for the birds.
Also, you can buy feeders that bees can’t raid – they figure it out pretty quickly and will leave your feeder alone. The one that I have found that prevents bees the best is the "Humzinger". You can see one at http://www.aspectsinc.com/2_HumFdrs.html
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Comment from trent0123
Time October 22, 2010 at 7:56 pm
It’s hard to say exactly, but I think nectar manufactured for hummingbirds may be different than flower nectar (different sugar used – sucrose vs glucose), therefore, the concentrated nectar, honey, will have a different composition and so may taste different. It’s impossible to say without knowing the sugar used in the hummingbird nectar. Also, the red coloring which attracts the hummingbirds would not disappear as the water is evaporated as the honey is formed, so it will remain in the honey produced.
I’m not saying there will be anything wrong with the honey, just that it will not be EXACTLY the same as honey from flower nectar because of the different sugar used and the coloring. Niether will ‘hurt’ the honey or the bees though.
The red coloring is added because hummingbirds are mostly attracted to the color red.
References :
Chemist