How to keep ants off Hummingbird feeder pole
Ants can easily be prevented accessing an hummingbird feeder at feeder level, though a bit more effort is required to stop ants ever coming into contact with the pole.
How to keep ants off Hummingbird feeder pole is done by sinking pole into a concrete foundation with an ant moat molded into it before it dries, yet can't be allowed to leak. Similarly, a DIY bottle top can be slotted onto the pole to seal with water. Better than that is using double-sided tape on the lower pole end.
In order to keep ants off an hummingbird feeder, you can achieve deterring ants on just the pole, although to keep ants off the hummingbird feeder only is the better solution.
Remember that because it can be hard to create an ant deterrent on what is a metal bird feeder pole; when manufacturer's have basically mastered ways to keep ants off at the feeder level, rather than on the pole the feeder is hung off.
With that in mind you can prevent ants even touching the bird feeder pole with use of an homemade ant moat.
To be sure where you hang an hummingbird feeder continues to be the safest, most appropriate location - without changing it due to an ant infestation; let's only focus then on keeping ants off feeders with your current feeder setup on a pole.
With use of a cheap store-bought ant moat that hangs off your bird feeder pole bracket, with your hummingbird feeder below it, this alone won't stop ants accessing the pole.
To prevent ants climbing the pole, my solution however radical it may appear will work.
It involves sinking the bird feeder pole into a concrete foundation, and in this foundation you can create a deep mold to fill with water - then you got yourself an ant moat at ground level - with the pole situated at the center where ants won't ever get to reach.
Little more complicated solution is making your own DIY pole ant moat. Cut a quarter of a coke or soda bottle on the lid side, then slot onto the pole a foot off the ground.
Downside is you need to create a tight fit with a clamp or bolt beneath the bottle lid to prevent it sliding down - with use some kind of sealant must be used to prevent leaking.
Personal favorite yet simple solution to keep ants off your hummingbird feeder is to apply double-sided tape on the lower end of the pole to trap ants as they attempt to climb over.
Situate feeder pole in water
One of my most radical solutions for keeping ants off a hummingbird feeder pole, is just how I would keep ants off any pole with all kinds of bird feeders hanging.
What I would do to prevent ants even getting a chance to come into contact with the pole on the ground is to make my own ant moat on the lawn.
Just so we are on the same page, an ant moat can be anything that retains water; with ants getting trapped before drowning in the water with the pole location on the center - just as invading armies are kept at bay of the castle.
How you can build an effective ant moat is to make one out of a concrete foundation.
Now you can sink your hummingbird feeder into a concrete foundation permanently, although a better solution would be to use a hollow pipe sunk into cement so the feeder pole remains detachable.
Where the hummingbird feeder goes is in the middle of a concrete foundation at only one square foot... around the pole would be a deep ant moat molded into the cement.
How you can make this mold can be with use of the underside of a bowl, dish or anything with a depth to it too create the perfect ant moat which must remain sealed to retain water.
You want to keep ants off your hummingbird feeder? Well you can do just that with this made in a concrete foundation ant mount at ground level. And with that, you can keep this concrete foundation mobile as it should stay intact if dug up out of the ground.
Keep ants off at Hummingbird feeder level
As your hummingbird feeder is the best kind that there is, which is a hummingbird feeder that is made to hang - this type of feeder can only be used to keep ants off.
Great then because if you find any solutions of mine to keep ants off your hummingbird feeder too difficult or expensive - then you can guarantee to stop ants at hummingbird feeder level only with little cost or effort.
Unfortunately it means ants are allowed full reign over the bird feeder pole; only ants will have no chance of descending on the feeders. If too many ants swarm your pole then stop them at pole level - whereby to prevent ants accessing the feeder is much easier.
What to do is simply hang a plastic dish that is promoted as an ant moat.
Ant moat will hang off any bracket on the hummingbird feeder pole, then the hummingbird feeder will hang below the ant moat on its own hook for hanging feeders.
How to use the ant moat is filling it up with water with the bird feeder of any kind hung beneath it. Certain types of hummingbird feeders have an ant moat pre-installed, thus an additional ant moat to hang isn't needed.
My personal best ants moats for hummingbird feeders are the plastic deep dish ant moats that simply hang between pole bracket and feeder.
Ant moats are cheap, easy to install but more importantly than that, ant moats really do work with no issues of ants finally reaching the nectar-filled feeder.
Mount DIY bottle ant moat on pole
Back to deterring ants on the hummingbird feeder pole, rather than at the feeder level; ants must be allowed to climb the pole a little to stop them in their tracks with this technique.
What you can do this time is to make your own personal bird feeder ant moat, made out of a soda or coke bottle with a sealant or something to prevent water leaking.
Begin by cutting out an empty soda or coke bottle up to 5 inches from the bottle lid. Lid won't be needed so it be discarded at this time.
You'd now be left with a bottle top that is 5 or so inches tall - or a quarter of the bottle from the lid side - with the rest of the plastic bottle thrown away in the recycling.
To install this bottle top on your hummingbird feeder pole, install it when assembling the pole - or slot on the bottle top via the bottom of the pole before impaling the pole into the ground.
Slot the bottle top up to a foot or less from the bottom of the pole before finding a way to keep it in place - all while preventing water filled up in this upside down bottle top with the lid section facing down.
To keep the bottle top in place I would suggest some kind of nut or bolt or use a clamp out of the workshop.
What must be used to fill to the top of this upside down bottle top is water, thus its vital you first create a tight fit from the pole slotted into the lid.
Now proceed to use a pond sealant or any sealant that can finally create a leak-proof homemade bird feeder pole ant moat.
Don't spread stuff on pole
Solutions outlined thus far are all prioritized because I want to give you the best chance of keeping ants off your hummingbird feeder pole.
People may look to greasing up the pole or indeed may use something like Vaseline to keep ants off the hummingbird feeder pole - and while it can work, it can't be used forever due to cost and time.
I can't advocate you spread any kind of sticky stuff onto your hummingbird feeder pole because its a lot of hassle; with the hummingbird feeder pole or area below it will get very messy which will require too much intervention on your part.
Alternative to spreading Vaseline or grease on the hummingbird feeder pole would be a quick, clean and easy to use sticky tape.
Double-sided sticky tape mind you as you'd want to apply the tape about 5 inches wide on the pole - while the outer sticky part will indeed trap ants attempting to climb over it.
If your hummingbird feeder is hung out in the sun with plenty of clearing then great; that is where you should situate hummingbird feeders to benefit feeding hummers.
On the downside double-sided tape isn't really made for exterior use, thus it helps to make shade from the sun to stop it deteriorating quickly while providing shelter out of the rain or damp conditions.
Your hummingbird feeder hung up on the pole will attract ants for sure, and as ants can only access nectar-filled feeders via the bottom of the pole - this is where you must concrete your efforts to keep ants off the pole all together.
Any bird feeder pole that must be impaled into the ground with two or three individual sections used - then proceed to repeat my solutions for each pole in the ground.
Clean up nectar around pole
While ants can sense homemade nectar in the air which is why they can be drawn to even a clean hummingbird feeder area, it still helps to keep the area clean of sugar.
Ants will naturally only feed on spilled nectar on the ground directly below the feeder, while others will continue up your bird feeder pole to access pure nectar.
And with that, if your hummingbird feeder leaks, you'd need to find a way to fix the leak or replace it with a new feeder as its vital you keep nectar contained. Bonus of a leak-proof hummingbird feeder will keep other insects and bees well away.
Best way to clean your hummingbird feeder while prioritizing ways to clean up an ant infestation - is of course cleaning up spilled or leaking sugar water on the outside of the feeder daily - without committing to a full clean via feeder dismantling.
Ants will swarm around the base of the hummingbird feeder pole on any nectar wet patches, with others still making their way up the pole in search of more nectar.
You can't keep the bird feeder pole plus hummingbird feeder clean while expecting this to deter ants. Ants will swarm regardless, thus an homemade ground level ant moat or a store-bought ant moat to be hung must be installed.
At this time you are only preventing ants swarming your yard in an effort to reach the sugary water in your hummingbird feeder, or on the ground below it.
To summarize up
How you can keep ants off the hummingbird feeder is to create an homemade ant moat, or what is an ant trap on the base of the bird feeder pole.
What you do is somehow balance the hummingbird feeder pole within a flat bowl of deep water, to see ants drown before reaching the pole situated in the center of the water trap.
While bird feeder poles are more likely to be impaled deep into the ground to keep it balanced - so go one better by sinking the pole into a concrete foundation. Now you can create a mold in this foundation to fill with water.
Now you'll have an homemade ant moat that was molded into a concrete foundation while it was still wet - yet it must be kept sealed to prevent water leaking through.
Similar to an ant moat at ground level is a DIY bottle solution which is installed a foot high up the bird feeder pole.
You cut a third or less of a plastic coke or soda bottle on the lid side to slot onto the pole via the bottom or when the bird feeder pole is assembled. You must find a way to create a tight lid to pole seal while using a pond sealant or anything similar to prevent leakages.
Bottle mounted to the pole can be kept in place with a nut or bolt below it while its vital when filling up with water, there's no leaking.
Never spread anything like creams or grease onto your hummingbird feeder pole in an attempt to stop ants climbing.
Better solution than that is to apply double-sided sticky tape to guarantee ants will get trapped, and therefore kept off the hummingbird feeder pole all together.
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