Product Description

The 8-Ounce Perky-Pet Instant Nectar makes 48 ounces of original nectar for hummingbirds. It comes in a dry mix, so all you have to do is add ordinary tap water--no boiling required. This nectar will keep hummingbirds swarming around your feeder, and the convenient mixing means that you'll have more time to watch them. Perky-Pet Products is dedicated to giving you the very highest quality and performance, so you can be sure their products and accessories are dependable.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25914 in Lawn & Patio
• Brand: Perky Pet
• Model: 230
• Dimensions: 6.00" h x 1.00" w x 3.00" l, .50 pounds

Features

• High energy sugar compound especially for hummingbirds
• Simulated natural flower nectar with no artificial sweeteners
• Simple, just open and add water
• 8 oz. box makes 48 oz. (1-1/2 quarts) liquid

Amazon.com Review
Specially developed to match the natural nectar of fruit and flowers, Perky Pet's Instant nectar is a high-energy sugar compound especially for hummingbirds. The simulated natural flower nectar has no artificial sweeteners. Instant nectar is a simple and convenient way to make nectar--just open and add water. The 8-ounce box makes 48 ounces (1-1/2 quarts) of liquid.

Customer Reviews

Please don't use red dye
Red dye has never been scientifically tested for safety as a hummingbird food supplement, and while its health effects on birds are unproven, red dye is suspected by licensed rehabilitators of causing cancer in hummingbirds. Further, in preference tests, hummingbirds consistently choose plain sugar syrup (one part cane sugar to four parts water, nothing else added) over packaged mixes or homemade syrup containing dye, presumably because the dye tastes wrong to them. They also do not like beet sugar.

If hummingbirds seem to prefer this mix over plain sugar water, it's probably because the sugar water has fermented--it must be changed and the feeder cleaned as soon as it starts getting cloudy--and the fresh mix is the lesser of two evils. Many, many people report getting several times more hummingbirds after switching from this mix to plain sugar water.

A 1:4 sugar water syrup is nearly identical to natural flower nectars from plants that hummingbirds use. The contents of Perky-Pet's mix are not listed, since none of the protective government regulations apply to animal food, but analyses of the mix usually show a host of bacteria and other contaminants, presumably from unregulated and unsanitary handling practices. Sugar is cheap--why take a chance on the health of your hummingbirds?

I would rate this product with negative stars if it were possible.

Waste of Money
This product is an overpriced box of sugar and food coloring. The same effect can be achieved cheaper by using 1 part sugar to 4 parts water and not using red food coloring. Hummingbirds will be sufficiently attracted to the feeder without the food coloring.

Unnatural, unnecessary and expensive
"Artificial nectar" mixes such as this are NOT recommended by hummingbird experts. They contain dyes and preservatives, chemicals that are not found in natural flower nectar and may have long-term effects on the birds' health. The red dye is not necessary to attract the birds (the bright color of the feeder will do that) and may have an unpleasant taste. Tests have shown that, when offered a choice, hummingbirds favor plain sugar water over dyed solutions. Any added "nutrients" are present in such small quantities as to be useless to the birds, which fill all their major nutritional needs by eating insects and other invertebrates. Also, there is nothing in these mixes to justify the price, which is 5 to 8 times the cost of ordinary white sugar (which is actually sucrose, the natural sugar hummingbirds prefer above all others). A simple solution of 4 parts water to 1 part sugar is convenient, inexpensive, and much more natural for the birds.

Sheri Williamson, author of "Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds"