Bat House Forum

[cloudman75]

In early August, I posted about losing bats. I lost at least 150. I have been checking the houses several times a week and all but one were empty. We had a couple of cool nights in the 50s recently and tonight around midnight the three chamber house has about 50 bats in it is my estimate. There were a lot of bats flying around which appeared in my light beam shined up at the house. I usually have about 200 that use the houses until around the last of Oct. or first weeks of Nov. depending on when it gets down to freezing here. The third unvented house still has around 50 bats using it,
so I think about a hundred are still off somewhere. It will be interesting to see if they come back and use the large 5 chamber house. I am gathering materials for building three houses at once, all three chambers. One will be for spring, one for summer, and one for winter. I think I will have the top 5 1/2 inches air tight on the summer house as I now agree with what Gary Springer said about ventilation needed. The spring house will have about 11 inches at the top tight,
and some less ventilation than the summer house. The winter house will have no ventilation and will be painted a dark
color on top. I will re work my existing winter unventilated house by removing the baffles which were built to be removed.
I will use those baffles in another new house made from old wood if I get busy. I have some rough wood to make new baffles for the existing house. I plan to make them wider to attract some big browns in winter or spring. None of my houses had wasp nests so they should not present a problem. I will take photos of the project and post them.
My Terry Lobdell hollow pole is done. I will be making a winch raising system for four houses as I have the materials including the winch. It's a little hot right now to get too busy outside.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Frank, that sounds like a good plan! Do you have any idea where your little browns go? I suspect mine go a couple miles away when they leave briefly during the summer.......

Both species I have here at home move around a lot after pups fly I think mostly due to parasites. Do you have a lot of bat bugs in your boxes down there?

On the subject of different designs, I have a west facing box that is insulated which is heavily used in early spring during cold spells by my big browns. It is very interesting to watch which boxes they use in early spring. If the weather is too cold for insects to be flying the big browns will roost in cooler boxes which don't get as much sun. That way they can stay in torpor and not burn calories. When the weather warms they will switch to an east facing box. Big browns seem to really like that early morning sun......

[cloudman75]

Terry,
I have a lot of batbugs in my bat houses. I think that is why the flying pups left the 5 chamber house to get away from the parasites. I have an idea that the bats go to their winter hibernation cave when they leave, but it is a guess. As the crow flies it is no more than 35 miles to several bat caves. I think they swarm and breed in late August and early Sept.
at those caves. That's another guess. I am almost sure that the 50 bats that remained here are this years flying pups. The freetails have gone, with only a couple here that I have seen. As the weather cools they will stop by with me as long as insects are present. As you know from my previous posts, I have freetail bats here even in Feb. during warm spells. That is what prompted me to have a winter house for them unventilated. If my winch raising system works for me, I will be using wooden french cleats to hang the houses at about the 4 ft level with resting blocks for the mount to stop at that point. I have both cable and 3/8 nylon rope for the winch. I am leaning toward the cable as the pulley will be smaller, and the cable will last longer perhaps. I won't be installing anything until after the bats leave around Nov.

Frank

[cloudman75]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Quite a few returned two nights ago. This photo was taken last eve. at dusk before their exit.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Wow! Nice picture Frank! How many crevices in that box?

[cloudman75]

Three. If you look at the bottom, you can see two grooves made with a router. This is my store bought cedar unpainted OBC house which is several years old. Right now it is full with LBs from top to bottom. I have only one bat in the big 5 chamber that had a large number of bat bugs. It has been empty for over a month now and most of the bugs have gone.
I bought a pulley today for 3/8 inch rope to use on my bat house elevator on the hollow pole. I need a couple of short treated 2x10 pieces before I can complete the winch
theme I have in mind. I have changed schemes several times but won't need it until this winter anyway. My hollow pole is 16 ft long, with a 4 ft 4x4 at the ground making a 20 ft total length. I may put an extension on the top to extend the pulley so that the houses can be at least 16 ft to the bottom opening. Nothing is definite yet, just considering a lot of options.

Frank

[Emersombiguns]

Hello, just looked at your pictures. I haven't had any in my house for over 2 months now. Moved out in June. It has been so hot here in N. La that all my grass almost died. I have a nice lake that was 1000' away in my neighborhood that went dry last Nov due to the dam breaking.
I haven't seen may flying around over head. Anyone else in area seen this? Hoping they may come back. Great shots..Randy In Haughton,La

[cloudman75]

Randy,
You need to install another summer type bat house painted white, with a lot of ventilation front and rear plus the sides.
The ambient temperatures in LA. are adequate to keep the bats warm without dark colors or sun during July, Aug, into early Sept. I have plans for my summer house which is going up this winter. It will be white with more ventilation.

Frank K4RVN