Last Updated on October 18, 2021 by Guillermina
If you’re a birder, I’m sure you’ll go through any length to make your sweet feathered friends feel comfortable in your space. But there comes a time where you may encounter some problems of ants invasion on your feeder. This is why we will be giving you tips on keeping ants off hummingbird feeder.
Hummingbird feeders are made with sugar solutions. Hummingbirds love sugar but so do ants. Therefore, your hummingbird’s feeder might be attracting ants and this might get you bothered. This is because ant invasion can prevent you from attracting hummingbirds to your yard.
But there are things you can do to keep these ants away from your feeders. So, let’s look into ways on keeping ants off hummingbird feeder.
Ants In My Hummingbird Feeder
Hummingbirds can still cope with just a few ants around feeders, but once they become too much, it becomes an issue. When ant invades your hummingbird feeder, they tend to invite or call more ants to that spot. They can even get into your feeder solution and die inside, thereby contaminating the solution.
So when you have ant invasion on your hummingbird feeders, it discourages these charming hummers from feeding on your feeder. Hence, you may not be able to attract enough hummingbirds to your yard.
How To Keep Ants Out Of My Hummingbird Feeder
Hanging hummingbird feeder is easy, but when birders encounter ants invading them, it’s only logical to look for ways on how to keep ants out.
We advise you to imbibe natural ways to keep ants away and avid the use of insecticides on your feeders. Insecticides can pose a health risk to the health of your hummingbirds if they come in contact with the chemicals when you spray them on your feeders.
Also, it’s not advisable to make use of oil, grease, petroleum jelly, and the likes on your feeders. These substances may actually be effective by hindering the trails of ants, but they can end up getting into the wings of hummingbirds and hinder them from flying. These substances can as well make hummingbirds’ bills get stuck.
You can naturally keep ants away from your hummingbird feeders by hanging feeders from the fishing line, avoid and repair any leaks, clean feeders often, hanging feeders above water, relocating feeders, installing an ant guard, and so on.
There are many safe and natural ways to keeping ants off hummingbird feeder so let’s further look into that.
Tips On Keeping Ants Off Hummingbird Feeder
Here are some safe tips on keeping ants off hummingbird feeder:
1. Maintain A Clean Feeder
Maintain a clean feeder can keep ants away as well as provide fresh-tasting nectar for your hummingbirds. It’s important your hummingbirds receive healthy sweet nectar always. Sweet substance and a sticky mess are enticing to ants so we want to avoid this.
Maintaining a clean feeder will not only keep ants away from your hummingbird feeders, it will also keep other invading insects away such as bees, wasp, yellow jackets, and so on.
So, ensure you clean or wipe your feeder daily and whenever you refill your feeder.
2. Avoid And Patch Up Any Leaks
Ants can smell sweetness so if your feeder leaks, you may be inviting these ants. So, always inspect your feeders often for any leaks to be on top of things. Patch any leaks you find immediately. Tighten any loose parts on your feeders and replace your feeders if they are beyond repairs.
Also, as hummingbirds feed on nectar solution, some solutions can drop on the outer part of the feeder. This is why you need to always clean up these feeders from time to time. While cleaning your feeder, you should also check for any leaks.
3. Use Fishing Line To Hang Your Feeder
One simple and smart move to keeping ants off hummingbird feeder is to use a fishing line to hang your feeder. Fishing lines are very tiny and slippery for these ants to climb or hang on to.
The fishing line should be attached to a tree branch or a gutter. We also recommend you hang the fishing line on a shaded area. Ensure you use a very strong fishing line so it can hold the weight of the hummingbird feeder.
4. Hang Feeders Above Water
Even though ants crawl, climb, and make a bridge out of each other, they still can’t swim. Hence, this makes hanging your hummingbird feeder above water a good way of keeping ants off your feeder.
So, if you have bodies of water such as a pond, fountain, and so on, that’s a perfect place to hang your hummingbird feeders. Hummingbirds also love a place where there’s a good source of water. They can have some bird birth and even nest close to a water source.
Therefore, hanging your hummingbirds’ feeders can keep ants away and your hummingbirds will also benefit from it.
5. Move Or Relocate Feeders
Relocating or moving your hummingbird feeders to a different area in your garden may confuse these ants. Usually, ants tend to leave a trail scent they can come back to and alert their colony.
You should do this in combination with other measures for a better result. Hopefully, this works and throws the ants off hence keeping them away from your feeder.
6. Install Ant Guard
Installing an ant guard is one way to keeping off ants from your hummingbird feeder. Ant guards are light insecticides that contain permethrin. Permethrin doesn’t kill ants but rather repels them. Therefore, they are safe to be used around birds, humans, and pets.
Even though ant guards are mild insecticides, we recommend you make this a last resort if you’ve tried many natural ways of keeping ants off your hummingbird feeder.
Read more about How To Keep Yellow Jackets Away From Hummingbird Feeders
Keeping Ants Off Hummingbird Feeder: Final Say
Ants can become a nuisance when they invade your hummingbird feeders. Their invasion can discourage hummingbirds from feeding on your feeder. Hence, this can reduce or chase away hummingbirds in your yard. We definitely want to avoid this.
There are so many natural and safe ways to keeping ants off your hummingbird feeder. We have listed some and we recommend you attempt or combine more than one tip to achieve a better result.
Eunice is a passionate lover of hummingbirds and all things nature. She loves to observe and study the tiny birds, learning about their unique behaviors and unique features. She has written a number of articles about hummingbirds and their habitats, which have been featured in a variety of publications. In her spare time, she enjoys visiting hummingbird sanctuaries and going on bird–watching trips in her local area. She also volunteers with local wildlife rescue organizations, helping to rehabilitate injured birds. When she’s not outdoors, Eunice can be found writing articles, creating bird–inspired art, and playing the flute.