Legally speaking, as a result of the Migratory Bird Act 1918 you cannot keep hummingbirds as pets unless you have a permit that allows you to breed and keep them in captivity. 

Even though you cannot keep hummingbirds in captivity, you can still look after one if they decide to live nearby or feed at your feeder on a regular basis. As hummingbirds are known for their great memory they’ll start appreciating your presence and platonic relationship may blossom as a result.

Why Does The Law Not Allow Having Hummingbirds As Pets?

Migratory birds are protected by law and in turn prohibited to be in anyone’s possession without a valid permit. Within the statute its states to capture, possess, or kill many species of birds, including hummingbirds, without a permit is completely against the law and could result a fine or imprisonment.

This law was put in place over a century ago due to a constant poaching and killing of migratory birds. People were killing migratory out of sport or selling body parts such as feathers from some of the more exotic avians turning them into fashion accessories and possibly to be eaten too.

In fact some of the more well known migratory birds like snowy egrets and the wood duck were on the brink of extinction and are only around now as a result of legalising the protection of these birds.

Subsequently, larger corporations have put forth effort to keep these upwards of 1000 migratory bird safe from any deadly actions towards birds like hummingbirds due to the creation of the Act.

The penalties for breaking the law now can result in a $5k fine for the average person, $10k for organisations and up to a 6 month prison sentence if they fall under the misdemeanour element of the act whilst a felony offence can result in a 2 year imprisonment and up $250k fine.

So yeah, I really don’t think it’s really worth capturing and keeping hummingbird as a pet due the potential backlash being as steep as it is.

What If It Was Legal?

If it was legal then yes you would be able to get a hummer pet although they’re far from the easiest to maintain.

First of all they eat multiple time an hour, generally 4 – 6 times, so you’d need to provide a constant supply of food to them.

Yes, they’re not big so the food size relative to us isn’t very much however, you will need to provide them sugar water, insects and other necessary food sources for a balanced diet very regularly.

Next, these little birds are almost always flying, even in the wild you rarely see them resting as they hop from one flower to the next to keep up with their metabolism.

Therefore, keeping them in a cage just wouldn’t be realistic as their desire to eat outweighs their need to sit.

As a result you’d either need to let it roam around your house cage free or designate a room or a really large cage with perches and scattered food sources to allow the hummer to what what it normally does without a cage or you’d need to purchase a very large cage.

When flapping their wings it almost sounds as if a fighter jet flying off. This may become a nuisance in the house considering they are almost always in flight.

How Would You Tame A Hummingbird?

Say you do manage to file for legal documentation/permit to hold and breed hummingbirds, the next step would be to make them trust you. Of course even without a permit they can become friends with hummers, they just can’t your pet specifically.

The first thing you’d want to do is make sure your little hummer deems it environment to a comfortable location, away from danger.

Hummingbirds are very intelligent due to the large hippocampus in their brain (the part responsible for memory) being 5 times larger than other avians which means if they have good first impression of you, it’ll help in building that trust, which will only strengthen the more you’re good to the hummer.

After this you’d want to make sure the food you provide satisfies its needs and is a color that attracts them. Most hummingbird feeders tend to be red for that reason.

Other than feeders you can also plant a number of vibrant flowers around its environment that it can hop back and forth from and either scatter insects or build a flowerbed where small Insects will naturally flock to satisfy these hovering birds dietary needs.

Once you feel the trust is there, you’ll know this if the hummers start flying in front of your face letting you know of a feeder needs to be refilled, next you can try and put a some sugar water in a portable feeder to see if they’ll eat from it directly whilst in your hand.

Even at this stage it’s not possible to say that the hummingbird is completely tame but, it’s as close as tame gets.

Why Would Hummingbirds Make God Pets?

A few reasons hummingbirds would make good pets include:

• They’re very intelligent
• They’ll deal with insect infestations
• They don’t need to be babied
• They look cool

Okay the last one is a bit superficial not necessarily the best reason for owning a pet hummingbird but, their intelligence will make so they don’t need to be constantly looked after as long as a food source is present.

Why Would hummingbirds Not Be Great Pets?

Honestly, there are more reasons not to get hummingbirds than to get one even though they are great in their own right.

Some of the reasons not to get one include:

• They eat a lot
• Always flying around or on the move
• Require a lot space
• Their flapping wings sound like a jet taking (aka they’ll be really loud)
• They really tiny so picking them up would be hard
• And the obvious reason it’s illegal

Relative to other pet birds, hummingbirds just aren’t very practical pets they’ll never really rest and be pretty loud from dawn till dusk flapping the jet propeller wings all day.

Summary

The Migratory bird act 1918 prohibits owning these birds as pets within the United States unless you’re crazy enough to suffer a fine upwards of $250k or 2 years in prison. Even if it were legal, hummingbirds wouldn’t be easy pets to look after, constantly flying, always eating and relatively loud too.

That’s why observing them and feeding them through feeders when they decide to come down in the summer and building a less involved bond with them would just be less of hassle and probably more enjoyable too.

References

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/why-we-must-protect-migratory-bird-treaty-a ct

https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/criminal-provisions-us-criminal-code-title-18-and-other-statutes#:~:text=Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA),-Elements:&text=Misdemeanor offenses shall be fines,$10,000 fine for an organization.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2104624/amp/Hummingbirds-huge-memory-lets-remember-location-flower-territory.html