Bat House Forum

[Dave Miller]

Here is a bat house that I recently designed.  I have just finished building two of them and will be placing them at a local wildlife refuge in the next month or so.

I will add more info & construction photos later.  I just wanted to start a thread for this little experiment.

This is definitely more labor-intensive than most bat houses, but I wanted it to last a long time and due to its location it had to have a somewhat natural look.  I built my last bat house 10 years ago so I don't mind labor-intensive once every 10 years .  Also I find building bat houses to be very relaxing.

Later I will explain the somewhat unusual features and the reasons for them.  I hope to keep a running log (blog?) on these bat houses.

 4/27/08:  I have posted all the construction photos & some notes on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70097310@N00/sets/72157604770522093/
 
Here are the completed houses:


 

[Terry Lobdell]

Dave, that is an excellent plan and drawing! How did you do the sketch?

[Dave Miller]

Dave, that is an excellent plan and drawing! How did you do the sketch?

Visio

[BatMan]

I thought it was Visio, how did you post it ?

[Dave Miller]

I thought it was Visio, how did you post it ?

I just saved a copy as a jpeg, which I put on flickr.com then used the image icon at the top of the post editor to insert it here.

[IowaNate]

 Great looking bat house Dave! I love the slate exterior, may I ask where you got the tiles?

[Joe Spencer]

Elegant and appealing Dave!  Nice work...  Looking forward to the progress and potential occupancy.  Are you planning on mounting these back to back on a post?

[Dave Miller]

 Great looking bat house Dave! I love the slate exterior, may I ask where you got the tiles?

Home Depot, less than $2 each.

[Dave Miller]

Elegant and appealing Dave!  Nice work...  Looking forward to the progress and potential occupancy.  Are you planning on mounting these back to back on a post?

No, the refuge manager would not allow me to place a post, but one is not necessary as there are a number of standing dead trees (killed by beavers) which have lost all branches and would be perfect natural roosts if they had cavities.  So I am just providing the "cavities". 
I am debating the pros and cons of placing both houses on the same dead tree vs. separate trees, but have not decided yet.  Any recommendations?

[Joe Spencer]

I believe I remember some data that showed that clustered bat houses were occupied more readily than those mounted singularly.  I had two on a dead tree and they were occupied in my yard. 

[Dave Miller]

I finally got the first of the two houses mounted tonight, 6/4/08.  I also posted descriptions with my mounting technique, etc. on the flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70097310@N00/sets/72157604770522093/


 

[Dave Miller]

We got the second house up tonight, 6/6/08.  No occupants in the first one yet (but I wasn't really expecting any, after just one day).  More photos & notes on the flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/70097310@N00/sets/72157604770522093/













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[IowaNate]

 The locations look great, especially the house just a few yards from the creek. And those are some huge dead trees! The photo with your truck really puts the size in perspective. I really hope you have good success with these houses, the lack of peeling bark on the trees definately suggests a need for artificial roosts.

[Dave Miller]

FYI I checked the houses today but found no evidence of bats using them.  But I wouldn't really expect them to be occupied yet.  Of course if bats are using the attic space I will not be able to see them except with an exit count.  I should probably put something under the houses to catch the guano.  I placed a piece of moss-covered bark under one, which should catch some.  I was out working on some irrigation pipes, and there were a few mosquitoes biting us even during the middle of the afternoon (which is very unusual in this area), in the middle of a field.  I think there is plenty of prey for the bats.

I just wanted to get this report in the log for the records.

Dave

[Dave Miller]

7/1 - Checked both houses, no bats yet.  There are a couple of paper wasps starting to build nests, which I was expecting.  Last summer the wasps built nests in every single planting tube in the restoration area that is just north of the bat houses (2000 tubes).  So there are a lot of wasps around.

I also noticed a definite increase in mosquito activity today, both at the refuge and later back at my house.  I was trying to work in the garage with the door open but they would not leave me alone, so I went inside to finish.  Mosquitoes are what first got me interested in bats and bat houses.

The grass & plants at the base of the trees are about five feet tall so it is impossible to find any droppings.  I found a couple pieces of moss-covered bark which I placed on the ground below the houses to hopefully catch some droppings:



What do you all use to catch droppings under your houses, if anything?