Bat House Forum

[cloudman75]

I mounted the two new bat houses on my 20 ft hollow pole today and finished painting them. I am waiting now for the bats to leave so I can mount the little existing three chamber in between thes two. The two new houses are mounted so that the weight force will extend straight down the pole and not be on the front or back. I will have about 60 lbs on the hollow pole so it will be touch and go to support the weight that is not vertical. The three chamber will be on the front of the pole but it only weighs 12 lbs. Once the bats leave, I will finish the job and pivot the pole up into vertical using my little Kubota tractor and a rope in the tree behind about 30 ft. All three houses will face due south. One is built with extra ventilation, no calking, and not painted on the sun exposure. Another is calked at the top 11 inches, has two chambers with ceilings, an attic, and painted dark for the most part. The third is the old smaller three chamber that the little browns seem to prefer with a woodpecker hole in it. I hope that this house will help attract bats to the new houses, especially when it gets crowded and hot..All are 3 chambers . Frank

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[Terry Lobdell]

Frank, they look good! Did you consider designing the mounting boards so bats could switch boxes under cover? My bats here at home seem to move around a lot during the day......especially during very hot weather........

[cloudman75]

Terry,
I did consider it after reading some of your previous posts, but decided not to connect them. I tried to provide some choices within the boxes by
adding a ceiling, an attic for heat then more ventilation in other chambers . The dark blue was really hot on the surface today compared to the bare cedar. I checked it out as it was bright sun today. I do have 1 inch openings between chambers so they can travel to a cooler, or warmer area without going outside. It was cool here tonight around 40 F and the freetails all flew out and were still gone at midnight. About half of the little browns were gone. We have not had a hard frost here yet and the bats won't leave for their cave. I put the big 5 chamber 5 year old bat house back up today.
The wife would not let me get on a high ladder so I used a metal pole with a pivot bracket on a large sweetgum tree and pulled it to vertical with my tractor. Then I used a metal bracket and lag bolts to attach it to the tree. It faces south. All my six houses will face south in 2011.
There went my chance to use a french cleat. The 5 chamber was so heavy I am not sure I could have mounted it anyway using a cleat unless I had help.
My nephew in Knoxville, TN told me that he just put up a 3 chamber bat house. He lives on a lake. I did not know he was interested until we talked at a reunion last week. Also back on the bat boxes, I have 6 boxes now from very cool designs to a very hot design. I read your other post reply to Gary Springer. I have come to the opinion that bats have a mind of their own and their needs do vary in different parts of our country. The bottom line in my mind is that at times they go for heat and no drafts. At other times they will seek or tolerate other conditions. There is no single answer yes or no
for bat houses. That's just my opinion. I plan to try and trim the screening that is coming loose in my unventilated winter house. If I can't make it safer for the bats, I'll replace the removable baffles with rough cedar boards. I have enough left from my bat house projects.
I'll post a photo when I get the bat houses up with the hollow pole. I knew that you had a lot of bat houses, but around 70 is great for the bats and I know that you have gained a lot of experience.

Frank

[Joe Spencer]

Frank, nice work there. Looking forward to your feedback on these over the winter and especially for next year.