Covered Hummingbird Feeder Moat

thingiverse

This hummingbird feeder moat comes in 3 printed parts. The moat bowl, a spacer, and the umbrella on top. Generally moats are a good idea for the hummingbird feeders, but you can either fill them with water daily due to evaporation, or use oil in them. Mineral oil works GREAT, but if you leave it uncovered a good rain will make a mess of your feeders and/or the area where you put your feeders. My solution was to fabricate a thick walled moat with a beefy center stem in order to accommodate a length of 8 gauge copper wire for a hook (pick up at Home Depot or Lowes). Bend a U in one end of the wire and feed it through the base of the moat. Bend a small dogleg in the wire to keep the moat higher on the wire than the bottom if desired. Once seated, place the 5mm spacer on top of the moat and then the umbrella on top of the spacer. Bend a U in the other end of the copper wire, at least 3 inches above the umbrella to allow for filling and emptying of the moat. Ants can't get in, and rain can't enter the moat to ruin your oil bath. You can use them for individual feeders or use them to suspend a plant rod and hang your feeders from the rod. My ants congregated on top of the umbrellas for a couple of hours and then gave up. No more ants here. :)