Post by BuckSkin on Aug 12, 2022 23:14:21 GMT
Thought I would share this trick.
Our Hummingbird feeder is hanging from a natural "hook" that I made from a tree limb.
The O-ring on the feeder has a homemade twisted coat-hanger hook that hooks over this repurposed tree limb.
Ever since the feeder has been hanging there, it has always been covered with big black ants.
The ants eventually crawl through the little orifices and then float to the top of the sugar-water.
I guess after enough ants drown in the water, it acquires a taste that is offensive to the Hummingbirds and they quit drinking.
This usually happens at about half-full.
A while ago, I was studying the set-up; and, I noticed there was a constant stream of ants coming and going up the twisted wire, then onto the tree-limb-hook, and following that to the steel T-post that the whole mess is tied to.
I happened to remember that I read somewhere to smear a Vaseline barrier around the rim of homemade Butterfly feeders to keep the ants away; it said an ant will not cross petroleum jelly.
I went to the tool cabinet and got the petroleum jelly and globbed on a healthy barrier around the tree limb, about two inches wide and 3/8" deep; then, I stepped back to observe.
Before my application, there was a never-ending stream of ants going in both directions.
In the ten or more minutes that I watched, not a single ant crossed the Vaseline.
Those on the feeder side could not get off and those heading toward the feeder would turn around and go back.
I brushed away all the ants that were trapped on the feeder.
I imagine I will have to replace my barrier after heavy rain and after hundred-degree heat melts it away; but, so far, so good.
Our Hummingbird feeder is hanging from a natural "hook" that I made from a tree limb.
The O-ring on the feeder has a homemade twisted coat-hanger hook that hooks over this repurposed tree limb.
Ever since the feeder has been hanging there, it has always been covered with big black ants.
The ants eventually crawl through the little orifices and then float to the top of the sugar-water.
I guess after enough ants drown in the water, it acquires a taste that is offensive to the Hummingbirds and they quit drinking.
This usually happens at about half-full.
A while ago, I was studying the set-up; and, I noticed there was a constant stream of ants coming and going up the twisted wire, then onto the tree-limb-hook, and following that to the steel T-post that the whole mess is tied to.
I happened to remember that I read somewhere to smear a Vaseline barrier around the rim of homemade Butterfly feeders to keep the ants away; it said an ant will not cross petroleum jelly.
I went to the tool cabinet and got the petroleum jelly and globbed on a healthy barrier around the tree limb, about two inches wide and 3/8" deep; then, I stepped back to observe.
Before my application, there was a never-ending stream of ants going in both directions.
In the ten or more minutes that I watched, not a single ant crossed the Vaseline.
Those on the feeder side could not get off and those heading toward the feeder would turn around and go back.
I brushed away all the ants that were trapped on the feeder.
I imagine I will have to replace my barrier after heavy rain and after hundred-degree heat melts it away; but, so far, so good.
