How do I keep ants out of my hummingbird feeders?
By Sandy from M-ville, KY
Try tying some bay leaves to the top of the feeder. thriftyfun.com (05/16/2009)
By Joy
Rub cinnamon on your fingers and slide it down the cord or hanger to your feeder, ants do not like cinnamon and will not cross it. (05/16/2009)
By Julie
Re: Water filled moats. Add a drop of dish soap to the container. I use old pudding cups or other snack cups and a piece of coat hanger wire. Very frugal. (05/22/2009)
By Mary Lang
Oil the feeder post or hanger. The ants slip off. Vegetable oil works well. (05/25/2009)
By Dena Roberts
I have read NOT to use oil or Vaseline the post or hook or anything near the Hummingbird feeder! If those precious little birds get it on them it can impair their flying. Google it. (05/25/2009)
By Ariela
The most effective method we have found for keeping ants out of hummingbird feeders is an
ant moat or ant guard. While some people make their own, Parasol Garden makes a great ant moat. It looks like an upside down umbrella, and has a loop on top for hanging on the hook, and a hook underneath to hang your feeder on. The ants won't cross the water to get to the feeder.
These moats come in a black umbrella shape, red flower shape, or green leaf shape. We carry these under Hummingbird accessories in our CreekTreeUSA store. They really do work. (05/27/2009)
We found a fantastic solution for keeping ants and earwigs out of our feeder. Get a plastic takeout container and make a small hole in the center at the bottom. The hole needs to be small enough to require some pressure to pull the cord through, as you want it to be a tight fit.
The container we found fit perfectly on the top of the feeder (see picture below) and has high, smooth sides. Fill the bottom of the container with cinnamon. Firstly, ants don't like cinnamon and it doesn't take long before they don't come calling again. Secondly, the cinnamon coats the sides of the container too and, once the ants and earwigs are in the bottom they cannot get out as they keep slipping down.
It did not take long before neither ants nor earwigs were coming around anymore. We keep the container up to prevent this from happening again. The lid on top of the glass cylinder screws off, making it easy to clean the feeder without having to pull off the plastic container from the cord each time. (08/24/2009)
By Sonja Morris
So far I've tried the fishing line. In less than 10 minutes the ants had become bold enough to climb down the line. The next thing I tried was the cinnamon. They crossed right over it like it was nothing. I guess I'll try the moat now. (04/21/2010)
By BugOut
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