Hummingbirds are a big hit at my house. My wife and I love them, my daughter loves them, even the cats love them (just watching them, they are indoor cats). Unfortunately, the ants love them too. More accurately, the ants love the hummingbird feeder, with its steady supply of sugar water. It does not take them long to find the feeder and once they do, they will take it over. Here is a quick and easy solution for keeping your feeder ant-free.
What You Need
Materials
• Hanging hummingbird feeder
• Large plastic cap or lid
• Hot glue gun
Instructions
1. Remove the feeder and straighten out the wire it hangs on. My feeder in the pictures above has a removable base which makes this process a little easier.
2. Use a drill, awl or heated finish nail to make a hole in the center of the lid.
3. Slide the lid down the wire until it is a few inches above the top of the feeder, with the bottom of the lid facing up.
4. Apply a dab of hot glue on each side of the lid where the wire runs through. Make sure the glue forms a complete seal around the hole.
5. Once the glue dries, fill the feeder and hang it outside. Fill the lid with water and say goodbye to the ants. The ants will climb down the wire and be stopped by the little 'moat' you have just created. As long as you keep the moat filled, you should be ant-free.
Additional Notes:
There must be no other ways for the ants to get to the feeder, such as little tree branches or flower stems, so make sure it is unencumbered. If there are many ants to deal with the cap I use in my demonstration may prove to be too small. Ants can form a bridge of living and dead bodies to walk across. If this happens, use a wider and deeper moat. Spray paint lids are ideal.
(Images: Richard Popovic)
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dash a little soap to make the water more "wet". they'll sink right in.
A similar thing works for pet food dishes--put the pet food dish in a pie plate or larger bowl, fill the outer bowl with water, make a moat.
Thanks for the post. Just hung a feeder out on the patio.
What do you suggest for people who live in areas that are terrible for mosquitoes? Having even small amounts of sitting water left out is a source for breeding them.
@SGGVT04 add some bleach. Think, it's not that hard.
I meant chlorine...
no need for the snark. it was a fair question. and i think the question was what to do about skeeters when you're putting out sugar water for hummers and the skeeters get in there. bleach of any type is clearly not the answer. and chlorine is toxic to plants and animals. so that's not really a very good reply.
i don't think skeeters can get into a hummingbird feeder cause the openings are tiny, not just open holes. guess it depends on the feeder. as for birdbaths there are supposedly non-toxic to birds donuts you can put in the water and it destroys skeeter eggs. a search of the "environmental working group" web site would probably point you in the right direction.
@MNTNGR, don't be a jerk. It's not that hard.
@SGGVT04, I bet you could also put vaseline in the top instead of water. It would have the added benefit of not evaporating every other day like water would. You'd still have to scoop it out sometimes since I imagine it'll collect dust and eventually no longer be effective. You'd still have the water inside the feeder of course...
What am I thinking... you could also just rub vaseline around a section of the rope.
A dab of vaseline on the rope or wire is a good method as well, but be careful. If hummingbirds get it on their wings it is bad news for them, very difficult to get off, or so I have read. As far as mosquitoes in the cap, between drying out in the sun and overflowing from rain, the water is changed enough that it is usually not a problem. If you do see mosquito larvae in there, just dump it out and refill.
As for the putting bleach in the cap, I would not put bleach anywhere near where I want a wild bird to drink. And I would not answer a sincere question with a harsh reply to make myself feel superior. Work on your self esteem, it's not that hard.
Thanks all. I was concerned about how the anti-mosquito donuts would effect hummingbirds especially if you were essentially putting a water source so close to their food. I appreciate the feedback.
We have a few feeders out but have had a mild winter this year which has added to higher than normal pest of all kinds out and about. So any information about combating the pest is helpful.