Bat House Forum

[flyin-lowe]

For those who haven't been following my other threads in the general area I decided to at a post here since this is the picture forum. I won't go into all the boring details, but here is the gist of the story. A friend of mine wanted a "big" bat house. He owns his own business and I told him I would build him one in return for some work I need done. The finished product is 50" wide by 48" tall. I used exterior grade 1/2 in ply for the baffles and the exterior is all 1 inch rough cut "scraps" that were donated by a local saw mill. The back is pine and some cedar and the front is all poplar from an old barn. I cut grooves in the plywood and left the rough cut stuff as is. The landing area is 4 inches. I came up with the idea for the bat emblem and my wife drew it for me, I just finished the paint on that portion. What do you guys think? I like it myself, but I might be a little biased.

[cloudman75]

Looks great, now pick it up if you can, stand on the scales, and tell us how much it weighs after subtracting your weight. I can't recall if you posted your state, but I hope it is cool there in summer. That's one large house.
I will be anxious to see and read how you mount the monster, so please post some photos.

Frank

[flyin-lowe]

I am in Indiana. We get hot weather but it usually is later in the summer, like August or so is our most heat. The guy I built the house for has 2 telephone poles he is going to put up. I am thinking we will mount a couple boards across the back of the house (maybe some 2x10's) one at the top and one at the bottom. Then use some pulleys or a winch and raise the house and boards up and then attach them to the telephone poles. He owns a construction business so he will be the brains behind that part of the operation. Do to his business he didn't have time to build it himself.

Was your comment about the temerpature due to the color or design of the house?
Thanks

[Terry Lobdell]

That color should be good for Indiana........and the size will work real well to regulate temperature........Kent Borcherding did a lot of experimentation with heat retention and found that heavier boxes with more mass held heat throughout the night much much better than lighter boxes....

Over the years I only seen my big brown maternity colonies use 2 boxes mounted on poles.........both were in the 50lb+ range.....

[cloudman75]

Color was the reason I commented. I hoped that you were not in south Florida or south Texas. LOL.
Your friend will probably take a back hoe and lift it up or a front end loader. Some of his subs will have one if he doesn't. I still would like to know how much it weighs. I had planed to build one that size but did not because of the perceived problems with weight. I built 3 houses instead of one large one.

Frank

[flyin-lowe]

Ill do my best to get a weight on it. I could have made it lighter but the majority of the wood was donated by a saw mill so I used it. It is so wide it is hard for one person to hold it while standing. I can stand it up on it's end to turn it over when I painted it but trying to pick it up and hold it is a different story. Once my buddy gets here to load it I will see what we can do.

[Emersombiguns]

NOW THATS A HOUSE! That looks pretty good. Yes, My last one took two of us to get it upright on the steel pole. We ended up using two very long 2*4's bolted about a foot from one end to make a "scissors" rig up to put under the pole and slowly push it up from horizontal. It was work. That house you built should get them in, and looks like you used some older wood..I thing in the right place it will be interesting. Keep us informed how how it does. My house's in La are painted Black..Probably been better in Brown, but my houses don't get direct sun all day. Mainly early morning to 3pm...Randy

[BrackishBatter]

From a strictly subjective point of view, mine, and worth every penny you paid for it, I think that the thin lines in the (very cool and clever) bat symbol shoould be thickened by a factor of 3 to 5, and widen the "C" on the other side to maintain symmetry. COnsidering the distance from which it will be viewed, I think the right wing will otherwise appear poorly defined and sort of look washed out. Same with top and bottom in the middle. Those lines all define the essence of the shape.

Anyway, that is one boss house. I can't wait to see it up.

Be careful.

[flyin-lowe]

Well this giant is in the air. I just stopped by this morning to see where the poles were at and to my surprise he put it up yesterday. He said he has a video of it. I was on the phone with him and said he rigged some pulleys and used his tractor. We had some very severe storms come through last night and it survived. He is going to leave the braces on the poles for a while and them take them off. The poles were a little over 31 foot long with 4 1/2 foot in the ground. It is just about 20 foot to the bottom of the house, 25 foot to the top. I just snapped a couple quick pics as his dogs didn't like me snooping around out there. I would love to see this bad boy start to fill up!

[Terry Lobdell]

Wow! That is an impressive sight! Are there any maternity colonies close by? That will be the biggest factor in how quick you get bats in it......

[flyin-lowe]

I don't know that there are. My friend used to live in this house but now he rents it out however all his work trucks and tools are still there. He hasn't lived there for several years. He has never seen any bat houses up in the area but there are a few ponds within a half mile and some woods and farm ground.
As far as the house I put up at my place (24x24 3 chamber) it is on a pole at the State Park. I see a lot of bats around my house at night so I have that going for me. I am not sure what the bat population is in Indiana compared to other states. Only time will tell.