Bat House Forum

[flyin-lowe]

I was at Lowes and was not sure on the color. I saw a sample marked chocolate fudge and I thought that seemed like a good color, something I could relate to.

[Terry Lobdell]

They breed in October and the pups are born in mid June.......little browns have one pup and big browns supposedly have two pups but my big browns here in PA appear to only have one pup.....

Bat Conservation International has a lot of basic info on their website you can read about bats.......

[flyin-lowe]

My friend that helped me wrap my roof and hang the house asked me to build one for him. He has a pretty good area and wants a big house. I am thinking about building him one using the basic same design I used in my house. I am going to build it 4'x4' and five chambers. The only difference I will make from the house I have pictured in this thread is to make the roof board cover both ends with some overhang. I am also going to drill some holes in each chamber so the bats can move from chamber to chamber. Any other ideas based on the house I just built, ways to improve it or any differences. You won't hurt my feelings. I just want to help his odds out. He has 2 telephone poles he is going to mount on his property. So eventually I want to build a second house and put them back to back. I just want to get this one started so we can get one up as soon as possible.

Here is an overview. I am going to be getting 4x4 sheets of 1/2 inch exterior grade ply wood. I will be using 3/4 inch strips for the crevice gaps. I will have 1/2 inch vents running along the front and back lower 1/3. Obviously it will bee sealed and painted brown. Is there anything else that I need to know that is different when building a larger size bat house? In my house I left a little gap in the top between the baffles and the roof. My thinking was instead of doing that using holes to allow access to multiple chambers. I figured this will decrease the chances of wasp's without much attack space.

[Terry Lobdell]

In the past I have cut a notch in the side of plywood baffles about 2/3 of the way down to create an access for bats to change crevices....drilling holes will work also.......

I like to have the baffles run tight to the ceiling/roof not only to discourage wasps from making larger nests but also to isolate each crevice for more temperature variation.

If the tops of each crevice are sealed tight you can watch bats move from crevice to crevice throughout the day seeking their desired temperature........

When pups are born the mothers will pack into the inner most crevices at night all the way at the top because these will be the warmest........the outer crevices tend to insulate the inner crevices.......

Bats love boxes with multiple crevices because of the different temperature variations.........boxes with greater height are good too for more temperature variation..........

Your ventilation design sounds very good.....

5 chambers sounds really good!

[flyin-lowe]

I got some good news today. I came home and there was a guy from the State Park with a dozer knocking out all the trees and brush behind the house. That was my main concern that the bats might not like the brush and branches that close to there house. Now there won't be any. There is still a big variety of vegetation in the area but that strip of tall brush like trees you see in the earlier pics will soon be gone. I am not sure how long it will take them to get them down but I will post some pics once they do.

[Lacey]

Hi,
You mentioned leaving a couple inches on top, for the bats to climb over to get from one crevice to the next. Be careful about wasps if your space is too big they might build a nest in there. I am not sure how much space the bats need to get through there or how small it has to be to prevent wasps.

[flyin-lowe]

Well a friend of mine with a metal brake wrapped the roof for me. I kept the roof that you see in the original photos. I went ahead and got another board that was about two inches longer then the original house so it overlaps on both side. He made one piece of metal that covers the entire house and has about a two inch overhang all the way around. The bottom of the house is 15 foot so its about 17 foot to the top of the house. I used to large lag screws to attach the house to the pole. It is hard to tell by the angle of the pictures but the house is a little higher then the brush you see in the background and the pine trees you can see in the back ground are about 15 feet or more away from the house. The bottom pic is from Google Earth and the pole I used is circled in red. What you cant see is there is a 1000 acre lake about 200 yards from the house. Now all I have to do is wait.

I haven't been out to take new pictures yet but the state park FINALLY cleaned out all the brush you can see behind the house in these pics. They left the pine trees but they are a pretty good distance from the bat house. The "brushy" stuff you see was litterally a few feet behind the pole and were close in height to the the bat house. The day back in the spring they started clearing the brush the dozer broke down and it sat parked all summer. Finally last week they got it fixed and cleared the entire street out. Definitely opened things up a little. If you look at the Google earth image the only thing left are the pine trees.

[cloudman75]

Great looking house and installation. Color should be good for your location. Good luck and keep us posted this spring when the bats come out of hibernation.

Frank

[flyin-lowe]

Hopefully.
I saw a lot of bats around my home this year. I could go out every night and see them flying around my yard. I live in a rural environment and have lakes all around me so there is a good water supply. I am thinking it is just a matter of time but you never know.