More Birds 38044, Red, Ant Guard for Hummingbird Feeders, 3.5-Inch Diameter

Work great, shipped quickly. Very pleased.

I love these ant barriers! I have about a dozen feeders for a large "swarm" of hummingbirds. During the peak of hummingbird season I usually have to refill the all of the feeders on a daily basis going through about two gallons of nectar a day. With this many feeders and all that sweet nectar, the feeders are often full of ants. I would end up with ants crawling all over me and brought ants into the kitchen when I brought the feeders in to rinse them. I absolutely hate ants! I've looked at ant moats at local stores but they always seem overpriced. This year I saw this ant barrier, the price was good so I decided to give it a try. It works exactly the way it's supposed to. The ants walk down the string or chain trying to get to the feeder and end up in a cup of water. I haven't found a single ant in my hummingbird feeders yet this year. I ended up buying a second one to give as a gift and kept that one for myself too!My only "complaint" is that they might be better in a different color instead of red since hummingbirds are attracted to everything red and they're very curious. My birds get VERY demanding when their feeders are empty or when I take the feeders down to refill them. (I usually have 50+ hummingbirds at my feeders and they get very vocal when they want more food.) During the few minutes that the feeders are down the hummingbirds will swarm the ant barrier to see if it's something for them to eat. It's just plain water in the barrier so it won't hurt them, but you probably don't want to leave these up for long without a feeder.

I know, this isn't perfect, but it's the kind we had before and the old one lasted a decade so I figured that's a good product. The walls are deceptive, because the water can only be filled maybe a third of the way up, due to leaking around the hook holder protrusion. I keep my feeders in shaded spots anyway to reduce microbes growing in the nectar, and in weather hot enough that the reservoir dries even in the shade, I am usually out to water a few vulnerable plants anyway so I just try to remember to spray some water in this. If you really wanted to, you could seal up the hole so the entire cup can be filled. The hook would lose its ability to sway, which could make the feeder more likely to spill or even fall, in strong wind, I imagine. But if I lived somewhere super hot, that's what I'd try.

I have had the ant guard up for a month and there are no ants on the shepherd poles or in the hummingbird feeders. Beware: the hooks on my feeders were too big to fit in the holes at the bottom of the ant guard. I had to place a metal ring between the guard and the feeder. Also, in warm weather, you have to add water to the any guard regularly. Both of these are no big deal for me in order to keep out ants.

Didn’t work at first because ant’s had free access to bird feeder. They were determined to overcome the obstacle. Two ant’s somehow managed to get across the moat also they were using moat as a watering hole. Not being generous I replaced water with vinegar “bingo” ants were educated and disappeared. I’m going to try water again if there is downpour of rain I don’t want the over flow of vinegar.

Product as advertised, delivered as promised.

I could not keep ants from getting into my hummingbird feeder. I tried various things to keep them away & nothing worked. This moat did the trick, no more ants! as long as you keep water in there, it will keep them away. I keep mine about 1/2 full as much as possible.

Will hold water without constantly refilling.