Bat House Forum

[William Bagwell]

At long last have a bat house that bats can actually use! ~25 years after I bought that useless one from a fellow caver. 10 plus years after it rotted and fell from a tree. Eight months after I started hanging around bothering you fine folks with my delusional ramblings about plastic bat houses. And two months since I paid to have 18 prototypes molded...


Alas it is still empty hours, hours I tell you, after I put it up


Never fear but a rare 'Giant Canadian bat' flew by about 9:00 this morning checking things out. Honked something about the baffles being too close together.


A view from the rear with a place for another house to be added later. And wow, it is bigger than the moon! Double wow, I caught a UFO leaving its secret base behind the moon. Think he was heading to Hartsfield Jackson to exchange passengers with the other UFO's


And yes this is the 50 pound box I wrote about awhile back. Have a very similar one finished that is only 40 pounds. Plan to hang it on the (people) house as close to where the small colony was roosting last year.

These same pictures and more in slightly larger size are available here.
http://www.mysecondbathouse.com/houses/

William

[po boy]

Looks good William,

This may be on your link, but it appears to be batty!

Curious about the width of the 2 x's, What width are they?

Did you use a pivot joint?

Mine has been up 4 weeks and no bats. I think Frank down in Powder Springs is holding them hostage!

[Markcuda]

William, great work
I hope your bat house endeavor works out good for you
I like what I see.

[Terry Lobdell]

Very nice! The design is great both of the bat house and the pole!

[William Bagwell]

Thanks for the kind words! Easy to get discouraged when real life interferes and projects drag on seemingly forever.

The pole is a recycled corner post from a pasture fence that has been took down. Think they were originally bought intending to make a driveway entrance sign. Had grandiose plans back then... Only 14' long so ends up around 11' tall with 3' in the ground. (They were deeper as corner posts)

Jerry: they are 2"X6"X10's Started building one almost identical to the one pictured but only 5' long. Decided to start over with 10' 2 by's so the over all height will be 14' to the bottom of the house instead of 12'. Will use the shorter one with the other pole some where else later on. Need this one taller since there is now a fence at the bottom. (to keep deer out of the garden)

No pivot. Actually took the pole back down and assembled it on the ground when I switched gears to the longer top. Was planing on carrying the 5' one up a ladder and assembling in the air.

Had put the 14' pole alone in its hole by myself. For the much heavier assembly I had my son help me raise the top 'head' high and jam the butt of the pole against the back side of the now very elongated hole. Hard to describe and wish I had taken pictures here. Backed a pickup under the raised end of the pole to stand on. One more 'lift' got it high enough to start using a rope to a come along. Was probably scary to look at but was not that big of deal.

Oh, due to the weight of the house spinning the pole it ended up facing west instead of east. Used a strap wrench to twist it back just before filling and tamping dirt back in the hole.

William

[cloudman75]

You did good William.


Frank

[cloudman75]

Po boy,

Lithia Springs.

I have put the word out to my bats to tell those bats around your place to come see your house.
I have two empty new houses myself. I think when it gets a hundred in the shade that they will be relocating for cooler temps.

Frank