Bat House Forum

[cloudman75]

My plans to relocate the heavy 5 chamber house are working out. I had to stop raising it because I damaged the roofing shingle in the process and it fell off. Now I will let it down to where I can caulk the roof and then install a new shingle. I have a ceiling below the roof which helps prevent leaking and fasteners from coming inside the chambers.
I should have used a heavier rope with the tractor as it is quite heavy.

Frank

[cloudman75]

Relocation completed. I did change to a heavier rope to pull it up. I used the existing rope as a safety rope so the bat house would not topple over backwards once I got it to a vertical position. All went well, and I replaced the roofing shingle before getting it in place. It looks pretty good despite the bent tower I used. The bats will have a place to come back to next month although in a different place. I still have a rusty C channel to paint and a smaller 3 chamber to get up. It will be a snap compared to this one. I worked entirely alone getting it up except for my little tractor named George. I left one bat house in the same location and it was used for a few pups last year including two big browns.
It has no ventilation and is rather warm in late March compared to my other two houses.

Frank

[cloudman75]

The three chamber bat house is now in place beside the 5 chamber awaiting the return of my bats. I decided not to paint the 5 chamber or repair the woodpecker hole in the three chamber. My logic was not to change anything about the bat houses other than the locations. I will be anxious to see if the bats will accept these houses approx. 35 ft from the previous location. They are now away from my house and sundeck where they had such success as maternity houses.
I still have one house in the same location as it was last year which was well used. Provided the weather warms, I would expect the little browns to start arriving about the third or fourth week of March. The freetails are a mystery as they
were quite unexpected. This has been the coldest winter I can remember so really don't know what to expect. The little bat that spent the winter with me for several winters was ejected from my 5 chamber when I took it down. I watched it for several days and then it was gone. I don't know if it survived the cold nights we had below 20 degrees F.

Frank

[Terry Lobdell]

Very nice Frank! I look forward to more posts on these!