Feeding Hummingbirds, not Ants

Every time we've put out a hummingbird feeder, the ants find it in an astonishingly quick time. Then they climb up the stand and into the spout and clog it, befouling the whole thing.

This year, we're trying a new approach. I wrapped the shepherd hook with a little tree wrap, then smeared Tanglefoot on it with a stick. We used this method on a tree once when we were having a terrible aphid infestation (aphids are tended by ants). The trouble is, it works for a while, but the number of entangled ants grows and grows, until additional ants can travel up easily walking on the corpses of their kind. Gross, isn't it? Anyhow, we'll give this a try. If this doesn't work well, hanging the feeder from fishing line is my next test.

Wrapping coated with Tanglefoot

 Hummingbird nectar is 4 parts water to 1 part sugar, boiled and cooled. Here I used 1 c water and 1/4 c sugar.