Bat House Forum

[Terry Lobdell]

Here is a mounting board I built in the spring of 2007. I attached 2 posts to the shed for extra strength and stability. It faces east & west. The horizontal boards have gaps so the bats can crawl back and forth to find their ideal temperature. The gaps at the top allow a higher entry/exit point as well. Each bat house has a vent/access gap in back to allow movement to and from any bat house mounted to this structure. I had a fair amount of usage this summer. The house on the left had the most with approx. 20 little brown bats.

[Terry Lobdell]

 

Here is another view. If I had to do it over I don't think I would have as many boards because it is a little top heavy. But it did work as I observed the little brown bats roosting on the east side in the morning then on the west side in the afternoon. Another reason for this experiment was to provide some cooler well ventilated roosting space for my big browns. However, they never used it and continued their apparent preference for bat houses mounted on buildings. I guess bat houses mounted here would be considered pole mounted.

[IowaNate]

 Looks like a great setup Terry! Kinda like one large bat house with the ability to mount up to six nursery houses on the sides. If you had 20 little browns in the one house last year, I am betting the number will increase this summer. I am working on a similar design that uses the space between two 4X4 posts to create an additional 3 chamber house. With two- 4 chamber nursery houses mounted on each side, the whole structure becomes an 11 chamber house permitting bats to move throughout every chamber.

   Can't wait to see how your houses do this summer!

[Terry Lobdell]

Thanks Nate, this type of structure provides a lot of room to mount different bat houses for experimental purposes. 

I did have more mounted on here in the summer but later took them down to mount elsewhere. 

One drawback is with parasites. If they are in one house then they will easily access the rest.

Now that I have a digital camera I plan on posting many more pictures.  I am really looking forward to getting some pics on here from the nearby state park. Aproximately 1500 little brown bats there!

 

[IowaNate]

  That is exactly the type of mounting design I am going to make. Although I can see the parasite problem. As for the big browns, give them some time...it took two years for them to move into the pole mounted houses with my little browns at the Nature Center.

[Joe Spencer]

Thanks for photos Terry and looking forward to the future ones!

[Terry Lobdell]

[Terry Lobdell]

This is another view of the mounting board. It is approx. 8 feet long and 32 inches high. This side faces east. The little browns often roosted on the east side in the mornings and on the west side in the afternoon.

[Joe Spencer]

Terry, are you saying they switched roosts temporarily exposing themselves during the day or is there a back door entrance to the bat house on the other side which penetrates and goes through the mounting board? 

[Terry Lobdell]

Joe, the backs of all bat houses mounted on this structure have gaps which the bats crawl out through into the openings of the mounting board. I built it so the bats can access any bat house mounted on either side without exposing themselves.

You can see the vertical spacers which serve to mount the bat houses as well as provide a crevice for the bats to crawl out the back and into one of the gaps in the mounting boards. 

[Joe Spencer]

Sorry I didn't remember your original post above which already had the answer:

"Each bat house has a vent/access gap in back to allow movement to and from any bat house mounted to this structure."


I really like this approach.  It gives numerous options and allows for easier substitution of houses for experimentation.  ;)

[Terry Lobdell]

Here is another view of my mounting board. The house on the right is just a single crevice house with rough sawn white pine as a baffle surface. The exterior is covered with brown scrap shingles and black aluminum. The house on the left has 2 crevices, one with fiberglass mesh and one with rough sawn one inch boards. This house had 20+ little browns roosting in late summer of 2007.  Both houses have back access/vent gaps.

[Terry Lobdell]

Here you see gaps in the boards. They are actually wider than they look.........around 3/4".  The house on the left has soffet vent on the lower third for ventilation. My little browns seem to prefer west over east facing houses.

[Terry Lobdell]

Well, I didn't get a whole lot of use in this mounting board this year. But it did have some use by both my little and big brown maternities.

This is actually my first structure used by both big and little brown maternities.

All my other bat houses which receive maternity use get used by one or the other, never both, even at different times.

I am starting to notice greater differences in their preferences each year.

Strangely, of the 3 rockets that I have had mounted here at home, the only maternity use in them has been the big browns. Yet, overall, my big browns greatly prefer boxes mounted on buildings rather than poles.

My little brown maternity only uses boxes mounted poles, yet they have never ever roosted on any of my rocket boxes.

As Kent says, big browns like boxes with a lot of mass for thermal stability so maybe the wood core of the rockets is the reason the big browns use them.

The only other pole mounted box ever used by my big brown maternity also happens to be the biggest and heaviest box I have here at home.

Counting this mounting board, my big brown maternity here at home used 12 different boxes this year!

[IowaNate]

  Terry, I still think this mounting board has great opportunities for hundreds of bats. And the fact that you have both big and little brown maternity colonies using it is a great step forward in bat housing. Time might be the only factor in attracting large colonies of both species. I am eagerly awaiting the results of next year's occupancy on this mounting board and houses!:D