Bat House Forum

[Gran]

Are the grooves in material enough or do you think that it needs addition roughing to be used as baffle.?

[Joe Spencer]

Not sure but I may have to wait till next year for occupancy and preference. I plan to have these dividers/baffles in side by side house comparisons with the other bat house having rough pine baffles. I did notice that the material is quite texturey even without the grooves. The grooves are not very deep but might be helpful for the bats, only time will tell. Also have seen bats in attics easily clustering on brick chimney surfaces as a preferred roost. This material surface wise seems to have a similar consistency.

[Mark Kiser]

At least one volunteer Research Associate in BCI's Bat House Project built a successful single-chamber bat house from Hardie Boards.

You must cut the material with an abrasive diamond blade, at least the thicker type. There is a lot of silica dust kicked out by the saw, so you must wear a mask or respirator.

BCI is making artificial trees for bats out of 16-foot long Hardie Pipes, 3 feet inside diameter. So far a few bats of 5 different species are using them as day and night roosts. The pipes cost $640 apiece, plus delivery from Florida. They weigh 3700 pounds each and will last 100 years according to the manufacturer.

Cheers,

Mark Kiser
bathouses@batcon.org

[Gran]

How hard was it to build the house out of the hardiplank material. Any specific problems. I hope to start mine soon

[Joe Spencer]

It was quite easy. Right next to the board are the hardie screws which penetrate/fasten without predrilling and avoid plitting and cracking the Hardie board. I just scored the Hardie board 3 times with two new blades in a utility knife and snapped them to size. I will likely set up a small slide Jig with my old circular saw and a cheap synthetic diamond 7 1/4" saw blade to do it in one pass. I am waiting to see if cement Hardi board meets with success at my home this season. SEE pictures here of bat house and Hardi board: http://www.batnic.org/forum/forum5/138.html

[Gran]

Joe, are you having any luck with the Hardiboard bat house?

[Joe Spencer]

Actually I have had one visitor I believe but nothing substantial in the hardiboard house.  The near identical bat house beside it with wood partitions had nothing. Both are mounted on the house.  My megarocket bat house on a 4x4 post about 20 ft. away was happily occupied by at least one visitor/resident currently and is used/occupied more frequently. :thumbsup1: 

[Joe Spencer]

Update! I'm happy to report the Hardiboard nursery style bat house has a resident!

Update #2  The bat has switched to the nursery bat house beside it which has rough wood partitions.

[LarryH]

Joe, I wonder if you put up two rocket houses close together if one would be used as a nursery and the other for the non-nursing bats? 

My neighbor wants to build his own houses rather than buying them, as I did, I wonder if he would get the best results from a couple rocket-style houses rather than a couple conventional bat houses back to back on the same pole.

 

 

[BBBD]

Thanks for the photos of your bat house Dave.  What can you tell me about the chunk of rock below the entrance.  This is the first use of rock at the entrance I have seen or heard of.  Is this a trick for attracting more bats to a "cave like" entrance?  Tha fact that no one else in this thread mentioned it leads me to beleive you all may know something I don't.  Can anyone respond if Dave Miller doesn't frequent here anymore?  Thanks.  Great forum!

-Dan

[Terry Lobdell]

Hi,

I thought the idea of a rock as a landing pad was a good idea as it may absorb some morning sun which would then rise into the bat house. Next year I am going  to make my east facing landing pads larger and stain them either dark brown or black to better absorb the morning sun.

Terry

[Dave Miller]

Thanks for the photos of your bat house Dave.  What can you tell me about the chunk of rock below the entrance.  This is the first use of rock at the entrance I have seen or heard of.  Is this a trick for attracting more bats to a "cave like" entrance?  Tha fact that no one else in this thread mentioned it leads me to beleive you all may know something I don't.  Can anyone respond if Dave Miller doesn't frequent here anymore?  Thanks.  Great forum!

-Dan

Hi Dan,

Yes, I've been away from the forum for a while.  I've been making some job transitions and have been preoccupied with that.

The intent behind placing the rock below the entrance was that the morning sun would warm the rock, and some of the heat would rise into the bat house.  It also acts as a landing pad.  Whether it actually performs either function I don't really know, it was kind of an experiment.  I'm sure it does to some degree.  The rock weighs about 30 lbs. and is secured with railroad spikes.  The house has 7 chambers plus an "attic" and it weighs about 60 lbs.  But that is nothing next to the pole, which weighs about 450 lbs. and was erected by hand.  I can tell that story some other time.  Getting the house and rock up there and mounted was fairly tricky to do alone.

I must admit that I have been extremely lax lately in monitoring my bat house.  I think after several years of checking and only having one temporary occupant, I became a little discouraged.  Also that part of our yard is overgrown with blackberries, which means in the spring and summer I must hack a trail out to the bat house, and for several years I have not done that.

I have cleaned out paper wasp nests a few times in the past few years, but that's all the maintenance/monitoring that I have done.  I do see a few bats around the yard in the summer, but no large groups.  Reading the forum again makes me want to put some TLC back into it!

Dave

[ilex]

[b]I'm interested in the sawdust/concrete formula as I'm having problems with woodpeckers and birdhouses.

Would anyone out there be interested in testing some alternative materials for bat houses? Two particular materials of interest include
plastic deck lumber and concrete/sawdust mixtures.

Plastic deck lumber is becoming readily available at home centers and lumber stores. It should last far longer than wood, and seems like it should lend itself well to nursery house and rocket box components and/or complete houses. The material is rather dense, and it should hold heat well. The interior surfaces can be scored with a saw or rotary tool to make grooves.

Europeans have been making small boxes out of concrete/sawdust mixtures for years. I have a mixing formula if anyone is interested.
It should be adjusted to make a bigger box, though, and there will likely be some trial and error to get the box to come out just right. I can send an article with instructions.

Cheers,

Mark

[blackfoot]

Mark,

 

I just joined the forum and read your post from several years ago and would be interested in your formula for the sawdust and concrete mixture. I have several bird houses made of the mixture. I got them from a German company. Several are 20 years old and still in perfect condition.

Thanks.

[Mark Kiser]

Greetings,

I'm no longer with BCI, but you'll want to get in touch with Mylea Bayless, the new artificial roost project coordinator at BCI---her email address is [url=mailto:mbayless@batcon.org]mbayless@batcon.org[/url]. She should be able to provide the concrete/sawdust recipe.

Cheers,

Mark Kiser

Tallahassee, FL

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