Bat House Forum

[IowaNate]

 As most of you know I joined this site about a year ago after hearing big browns very late in the season in my bat houses.

  I have six bats total currently, and four of them are in the old delapidated NW house that I never got to changing out this summer. The other two are in the SE house with still no occupancy in the slanted baffle/hybrid house. I was up to 9 bats in November of last year, so we shall see if the newer house attracts a few more in the late season, but for some reason they keep choosing the house that has been slowly falling apart for the last three years.

[IowaNate]

I am going to do something which seems completely backwards. I am going to build a smaller 3 chamber insulated house with 2x4 sides and a 3/4" front and back. I am going to play with the positioning of insulation (foil backed foam) to create a chamber that is least affected by solar gain and exterior temperatures. I want to try to keep my big browns throughout most of hibernation if possible.

 It will also be positioned on the North facing side of my house to reduce daytime extremes caused by the sun's rays.

 

  I am up to 7 big browns now, just 2 bats shy of my former November 2007 occupancy. I think there has to be a way to keep them year round with four bat houses hung on my home since the neighbor's attic has had them hibernating for years.

  I keep kicking myself for not replacing the NW bat house, but it is still the one that has the most occupation late in the season for some reason that I am still trying to find the reason for.

[IowaNate]

   My plans on the new insulated bat house changed a bit. I used 3/4" pine for the whole house and it only came out to 2 chambers. The rear chamber is fully insulated (front,back,top, and sides) with reflectix insulation covered by petscreening. Due to the insulation's soft qualities the chamber varies from 3/4 to 7/8".
   The front chamber starts at 1-3/8" and goes to 7/8" at the top half of the house (the top half is insulated the same as the rear chamber).
   There are no vents, and the final interior dimensions of the chambers are 9.75" wide and 18" tall.
  
   I hung this house directly beside the NW house mounted on my home in an attempt to provide a house that is least affected by ambient temperature, thermal gain, and wind.
 
  Now for the bat count as of 10/31/2008. I have 7 bats in the old NW house, 1 bat in the NE house, and 2 bats in the SE house. Still no use of the SW slanted baffle/hybrid house, but the temperatures are going to be in the upper 60's to low 70's for daytime highs and in the low 50's at night for the next 5 days. So HOPEFULLY the bats will be moving at night and check out the newest houses.
 
  Being as though the forum might be down for a bit and new posts might be deleted, I am saving every post of mine on my email for future reference.

[IowaNate]

November 17 was the last date that my big browns used my houses this year. The newest two chamber insulated house had two pieces of guano on the landing pad (November 14th) so I assume that is was used for at least one day.

[IowaNate]

Here's a view of the new insulated house mounted directly beside the most occupied house.