Things You'll Need:
- Vegetable oil
- Petroleum jelly
- Fine fishing line (optional)
- Ant moat (optional)
- Shallow dish
- Red-tinted sugar water
- Basin or saucer-type hummingbird feeder (optional)
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Step 1
Purchase a feeder that doesn't drip, such as a basin feeder or a saucer feeder, if you do not have a feeder already. A feeder that drips will alert bees to its presence.
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Step 2
Coat the string or wire that supports the feeder with vegetable oil, reapplying every week. If you have fine fishing line that can support the weight of the feeder, you may want to replace the string entirely with fishing line. In either case, a slick surface is created to deter ants.
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Step 3
Apply petroleum jelly around openings of the hummingbird feeder and around jar edges. Petroleum jelly can also be placed on the branch from which the feeder hangs to keep ants away.
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Step 4
Add an "ant moat" or "ant trap" to the feeder. These can be purchased separately from hummingbird feeders and, when filled with water, create a barrier between ants and the feeder.
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Step 5
Hang your hummingbird feeder in a shady area to reduce the number of bees drawn to it.
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Step 6
Create a feeder for bees and other stinging insects by filling a small dish with a concentrated, red sugar-water solution and placing it away from the hummingbird feeder. Insects will be drawn to the higher concentration of sugar, leaving the bird feeder in peace.
