My reply to the following e-mail bounced, so I’ll answer it here:
I’ve read the first part of your article on hummingbirds about what to make when you feed them.
Before reading the article, I just made hummingbird food with organic sugar. I am concerned about the addictive and other chemicals in white sugar. Is there any white sugar available on the market that does not contain chemicals? or a way to transform organic sugar in white?
Thank you for your time.
In the strictest sense, there is no product of any kind on the market that doesn’t contain chemicals. I’ll need to know what specific substances you’re concerned about (other than iron) before I can answer your question, but the way it’s phrased suggests that you may have fallen victim to fear-mongering hyperbole about white sugar. In that case, this post may be helpful:
Search of the Week: “if refined sugar is so bad for us then why do we feed it to hummingbirds??”
One feederful of organic sugar isn’t going to kill hummingbirds because the iron concentration is very low. It’s chronic exposure to excess iron over weeks, months, or years that may cause illness and death. Unfortunately, there is no simple home remedy for removing the residual iron from organic/”raw”/turbinado sugar.
Life, Birds, and Everything 