Ants in the Hummingbird Feeder

The past few weeks I’ve had problems with ants in the hummingbird feeder twice….not just a few ants but thick in the sugar water! The first time I didn’t quite realize how many there were and they got all over my arms when I retrieved the container to clean. The second time I waited to open it until I got it inside and into the sink where I could run water to flush them out and down the drain.

Earlier in the season I had an ant problem once (a few ants…not large numbers) and I thoroughly rinsed off the window where the feeder is attached when I cleaned the feeder and hadn’t had another infestation until recently.

Maybe it has happened because it has been so hot and dry that the water moat dries out relatively quickly. Now that I’ve had a huge number of ants a second time – I’ll refresh the moat daily and see if that helps.

On the way to the feeder, I noticed a feather on our patio. An ant had already found it too. It might be a tail feather of a Mourning Dove. There weren’t any other feathers around so maybe the bird survived.