Bat House Forum

[Markcuda]

I would like to do possibly two houses back to back.
I need ideas on what to buy.
I have two up now, they are good quality houses, I would buy them again.
I can spend 200 per house?
I would put them on a 2.1/2 inch pipe.
Pictures are a must
Here is one house.
The huge tree to the left is now gone

[cloudman75]

Markcuda,
Here is my two cents worth after thinking about your situation. As I understand it you have no bats now. Therefore I would advise you to buy two more 3 chamber houses like the one smaller house you have up now and mount them back to back facing East and west if possible. You don't need a large dia. pole as the two houses will only weigh a total of about 25 lbs. A 1 inch schedule 40 pipe would do just fine as that is the inside dia. Putting the houses up at 16 to 17 ft is fine I think. That's just my opinion and advice in reply to your post. It has been my experience that bats really like the three chamber OBC house.
I think a few bats can affect the temperature in that size house, while a large house is not suitable for smaller numbers of bats to take advantage of body heat from other bats due to the large mass involved. Good luck and keep us posted. Don't be riding that Harley in the ice. LoL. Terry Lobdell construced some smaller size houses mounted together as I recall and had good success with them in PA. The OBC 3 chamber claims to hold 300 bats, but about 100 mothers is more like it. I only had 17 the first year, then about 29 or 30 the second year which later grew into about 200 bats on average as the years went by.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

I agree with Frank.......the OBC boxes mounted back to back with and east/west orientation would be really good........I actually have one of those and have had good success with it........it was given to me years ago........I did cover the roof and sides with aluminum to make it long lasting but the cedar wood it is made out of holds up really well.......

[Markcuda]

Thank you all for the replies.
I will ponder the advise I got

Does it matter how close I put the second pole to the first pole?

[cloudman75]

As long as the bats have a clear flyaway, being close won't matter. As I recall you have one large obc house that holds a lot of bats so I think you will have
something suitable for any size colony that you may get.

Frank

[Markcuda]

I have two houses now.
They are both OBC houses.

[Terry Lobdell]

I agree with Frank......I have lots of bat houses in close proximity of one another.....the only problem I ever had was when I mounted a bat box about 3 feet under another one and I saw bats hit the lower box when they exited........

[cloudman75]

Markuda I knew you had a small and a large OBC., so if you buy two three chambers this year that would give you three three chambers and the large one for a total of four. That should satisfy the bats for years to come in my opinion. Good luck in what you decide, and keep us posted. Spring will be here before we know it after a couple of more months of some very bad weather if my aching bones forecast is correct.

Frank

[Markcuda]

Just an update.
I am going with a 2 inch pipe, I don't need galvanized.
I think I will get 2 of the Lone Star, 3 chamber houses, mounted back to back, I will weld my own bracketry on the 2 inch pipe, I weld for a living
All western cedar, no plywood, no wire/plastic mesh.
They will stain them free of charge, should I have them stained brown/dark brown?
I am in the zone number 2, central Illinois.

[Terry Lobdell]

I would go with some shade of brown.......I am in NWPA and I stain all my new boxes a chocolate brown....I used to use all flat black but feel it is not necessary and the brown looks better........

[Emersombiguns]

I have both of my houses painted black. Seems to hold them fine. I have counted over 500 coming out of my two houses in Jan. So the black may hold daytime heat better. Even in La where it can get to 100f they move to my back chamber of a 5 chamber house. Mine left again this week due to temps in the 30's in La...In Pa , I would paint it black...Randy Haughton,La

[Markcuda]

Here are the two houses that I will get Wednesday.
http://www.lonestarwoodcraft.com/

The bat maker said he will stain them for zone number 2, which will be a gray color, I thought that my area was a brown/dark brown color?
I guess I can always re stain it a darker color.
What is a good/safe brand name stain that I should use?

[William Bagwell]

You are in zone two, and fairly close to zone 1 so I would think they would lean towards a darker shade.

1. Dark areas: less than 85 ̊ F. – Black or dark shade of paint. 3. Light areas: 95 ̊-100 ̊ F. – Medium or light shade of paint.
2. Medium areas: 85 ̊-95 ̊ F. – Dark or medium shade of paint. 4. Lightest areas: 100 ̊ F or greater. – White or light shade of paint.
Picture to go with that here,
http://www.batcon.org/pdfs/bathouses/ColorRecs.pdf

No idea on what brand of stain though...

[cloudman75]

Take a look at this color chart for bat houses Markuda if interested. http://www.batcon.org/pdfs/bathouses/ColorRecs.pdf

I personally think it is wrong to paint a house in Florida, Georgia, and other Southern states the same color as a Northern state almost in Canada. Also the 6 hours of sun down where the temps are in the 100 plus in mid July and August is not required either and I agree with the chart on that. My bats prove my perception by hanging out in broad daylight to cool off. My experience reveals that two, or more color schemes and ventilation openings are needed, not just one.
You may want to think about leaving one stained as received or both to give the bats a choice. One with the existing brown in Spring, and then gray for summer conditions after they have pups flying when it warms up in July and August.
The brown is the better choice in my opinion for your location in late March, April, and May. Of course batcon.org knows 100 times more than I do there is no doubt in my mind. The bats will make the final determination.

Frank

[Markcuda]

You guys are just great
Frank, we think alike
I think I will leave one house as it comes next Wednesday, and the other, I will re-stain it a brown,dark brown color.
When I position them in the ground(on the 2 inch pipe,of course) the gray one will face east, or maybe west?