If you have ants raiding your hummingbird feeder, this simple DIY moat will prevent them from ever reaching the sugar water. I’ve been using mine for a while now, and it completely solved the problem.
This hummingbird sugar water recipe can be made in different size batches.
How Hummingbird Feeder Moats Work
You can buy or make a moat to keep ants off your hummingbird feeders.
Ants can be very disruptive at feeders. Attracted to the sugar water, they climb all the way up and around the shepherd’s hook and down onto the feeder. Once at the feeder, they descend into the sugar water to feast or drown.
It looks awful and it ruins the food.
As much as hummingbirds like to eat both ants and nectar, they do not like the two combined, and they will stop feeding if the ant invasion is too much.
You put plain water in hummingbird moats, not sugar water. Ants will be attracted to the sugar water in the hummingbird feeder hanging below the moat but will not be able to reach it.
There is not a simple way to keep bees from hummingbird feeders. They are simply seeking nectar just as the hummingbirds are. The big picture solution is to grow a diverse selection of native plants rich in nectar that flower from early spring to fall. With an abundance of food available, bees will have other options. Hummingbirds also need flower nectar and lots of protein (insects and other invertebrates) for the bulk of their diet.
How It Works
The idea with the moat is: a cup of water is hung from the shepherd’s hook, and the actual feeder is suspended below it.
Now, when the ants come marching, the moat is the first thing they encounter on their way to the feeder.
With nowhere to go but down the middle eye hook, they either drown in the cup of water or give up and walk all the way back to the ground.
Meanwhile, the hummingbird feeder remains ant-free.
You can use these moats on any hanging nectar feeder including ones used for orioles.
Ant Moat
Moat for Hummingbird Feeder | Amazon
Feeder
Hummingbird Feeder | Amazon
The least expensive hummingbird feeder moats on Amazon retail for around $9. The supplies for mine cost a few dollars. It’s not a huge savings but perhaps worth making one, especially if you already have the supplies on hand and need a few of them.
The whole project takes just minutes to make.
Wondering where the hummingbirds are now? This spring migration map tracks their journey.
How to Make a Hummingbird Feeder Moat
Video Instructions
Supplies & Tools
- (2) Eye hooks: 3/16-inch diameter, 4-inches long.
- (2) 3/16-inch nuts
- (2) 3/16-inch washers
- (1) 3/16-inch coupling nut (to join the eye hooks)
- (1) plastic cup, kiddie bowl, or lid from spray paint can
- Silicone Sealant (outdoor, waterproof) or Plumber’s Puddy or similar waterproof product
- Electric drill and 3/16-inch drill bit
- Small wrench to tighten nuts
Notes: I used 3/16-inch materials. You can use any size from 1/8 to 5/16-inch: just make sure everything including the drill bit are the same diameter.
You could use J hooks instead of eye hooks. I choose eye hooks because the squirrels and chipmunks have a harder time knocking them off.
Assembly
1. Drill a hole in the middle of the plastic cup. Use a drill bit the same diameter as the eye hooks.
2. Place the nut on the lower eye hook as close to the eye as it can go. Add the washer.
3. Add a dab of Silicone Sealant to the underside of the cup where the washer will touch.
4. Add a dab of Silicone Sealant inside the cup around the hole where the second washer will rest.
5. Thread the lower eye hook up through the cup. The lower nut and washer will press against the cup (but don’t snap the plastic!).
6. Place the second washer down the eye hook to the bottom (inside) of the cup. Then add the second nut and tighten. You may need to use a wrench -gently.
7. Attach the coupling nut to the lower eye hook, with half the nut still available.
8. Insert the top eye hook into the coupling nut.
Allow Silicone Sealant to dry (most take 2 hours). Then hang moat from shepherd’s hook and hang hummingbird feeder from moat. And say good-bye to the ants.
Resources
Listen
Hummingbird Tip Sheet
Empress of Dirt
Hummingbird Food Recipe & Care Tips
Save to your device and/or print it.
~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛
How to Make a Hummingbird Moat
Equipment
- Small wrench
Supplies & Materials
- 2 Eye hooks 3/16-inch diameter, 4-inches long
- 2 3/16-inch nuts
- 2 3/16-inch washers
- 1 3/16-inch coupling nut to join the eye hooks
- 1 Plastic cup 3-inch diameter
Instructions
- Watch the video for visual instructions. Drill a hole in the middle of the plastic cup. Use a drill bit the same diameter as the eye hooks.
- Place the nut on the lower eye hook as close to the eye as it can go. Add the washer.
- Add a dab of Silicone Sealant to the underside of the cup where the washer will touch.
- Add a dab of Silicone Sealant inside the cup around the hole where the second washer will rest.
- Thread the lower eye hook up through the cup. The lower nut and washer will press against the cup (but don’t snap the plastic!).
- Place the second washer down the eye hook to the bottom (inside) of the cup. Then add the second nut and tighten. You may need to use a wrench -gently.
- Attach the coupling nut to the lower eye hook, with half the nut still available.
- Insert the top eye hook into the coupling nut.
- Allow Silicone Sealant to dry (most take 2 hours). Then hang moat from shepherd’s hook and hang hummingbird feeder from moat. And say good-bye to the ants.
Linda Wood says
enjoy and learn something almost every time
Wendi says
Will this work for earwigs?
Melissa J. Will says
I think it should since, to my knowledge, earwigs do not swim. The moat should stop any insect that has to walk to get to the feeder and will not enter water.