How to Prevent Ants in Your Hummingbird and Oriole Feeders

Hummers are beautiful and fun to watch!

Do ants raid your hummingbird and oriole feeders? Chances are they do. They're crafty little critters, those ants! They'll climb any heights to find that sweet reward inside your hummingbird and oriole feeders. Well, here's a simple, little trick that might help prevent ants from getting there.

Things You'll Need

• Hummingbird or oriole feeders.
• Hummingbird or oriole nectar or syrup.
• Margarine or other tub lid.

Instructions

1. Prepare a margarine tub lid:
   Poke a hole in the center of a lid from a margarine tub, edges facing upward. A plastic deli-container lid works, too. Careful use of scissor blade works to make the hole.

   Push the hanger-string on the hummingbird or oriole feeder up through the hole as shown in the diagram in step 2. Ease the lid down the string until it almost touches the top of the feeder.

2. 

   Ant prevention:
   Carefully smear petroleum jelly or cooking oil all over the top-side of the lid; just lightly though. You don't want a mess of it to melt and run down over the edges and all over the sides of your hummingbird or oriole feeder.

3. Setup:
   Hang the feeder as usual. The ants will get stuck on the grease before they can find their way to the feeder. Like I said, they're smart little buggers and, while some will persist to the death, others will note the carnage and make a hurried retreat!

4. Sometimes:
   On occasion some particularly persistent ants will figure out how to sneak down the string, avoiding the grease altogether. If this happens, simply stuff a small amount of cotton ball or q-tip fluff soaked in oil, into the string-hole, and around the string. A nut-pick is a great little tool for this job.

Tips & Warnings

• Enjoy your ant-free hummingbird or oriole feeders!

Resources

• Quing-It.com-Product Ingredient Information