Bat House Forum

[Joe Spencer]

Very nice guys. Terry, have you noticed if your little brown bat count is down over the last 1-2 years from WNS?

[cloudman75]

Some little browns getting heat relief

Frank

[cloudman75]

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Here is the start of a hollow post usingTerry's idea.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Nice picture of the little browns Frank!

Joe, if anything, this year I have more little browns than ever..............I think so far here in NWPA we have been isolated by the Appalachian Ridges...........WNS spread south then west...........who knows what next year will bring.........I'm hoping somehow we will be blessed and the bats will remain healthy here........

[Terry Lobdell]

This is a picture of the T-post from Aug. 13, 2011. I have changed some of the boxes that were mounted on here last year. It is really easy to put boxes up and take them down. They simply hang from the top french cleat. A spacer on the lower half of the box maintains an even crevice/gap between the box and the T-Post mounting face. The box shown on the left here appears crooked because I just skipped putting a spacer behind it........the bats can move internally to any box that is mounted on this structure. This was an easy way to compare bat preferences among the boxes. I've had mostly usage by little browns but did have a group of 8 or 10 big browns (most likely juveniles) roosting in one of the north facing boxes last summer.

I have had as many as 8 of the smaller boxes mounted on here at one time. The larger box mounted in the middle is 18" wide and has 3 crevices........I did not have the roof finished on it so I temporarily attached a board covered with black plastic above it........

I have had as many as around 50 little browns roosting among the boxes on this structure this year

The more I experiment, the more I learn!

[Terry Lobdell]

Lately it has started to cool down here.........the little browns have been packing into the small box on the right.........probably because of the black shingles covering the face of it makes it warmer........