Bat House Forum

[LarryH]

Being a little behind schedule in my cleaning, and expecting the bats to start returning about mid-April, I asked my neighbor to help me lower the pole so I could clean the bat houses of any wasp nests that might have been built in them.  I had noticed a small wasp nest on the bottom edge of one of the houses, and I wanted to get rid of it, as well as make sure there weren't any more up inside the houses.

We didn't have any problem getting the houses down, but I was very surprised when I shined a flashlight up inside them to inspect them!  About half way up in one of the houses, there were two bats clinging to it.  They appeared to be Little Brown Bats, but may have been Big Brown Bats.  It surprised me because the weather hasn't been that warm yet -- it has only been in the 50's -- and I haven't seen many bugs yet this spring.  But, apparently, these guys wanted to get a head-start on the season.

So, I guess next year I will have to make sure I do spring cleaning in early March, instead of late-March.

[Terry Lobdell]

I just went out at about 7:30 and saw that I had 2 big browns in one bat house and 1 big brown in another! This is a record for me.......The earliest I've observed them roosting my bat houses in previous years was April 15th. Both occupied houses are mounted to my house........none on poles had any bats........

[Joe Spencer]

Wow! I wasn't going to check for another week or two but I will now.  Late April occupancy has been the earliest for me in my area of Massachusetts. 

[BatMan]

Larry- I have an exclusion to do near Winchester,In. not too far from Dayton so I guess I need to get up there pretty soon huh ? When do you think would be a good time ? I really need to make sure it's not too soon because the bats will still be hibernating and I don't want to be there to late because they could have pups if I wait too long. I definitely don't want to have to drive up twice so what's your "professional" opinion ?

Thanks,

Mike

[Joe Spencer]

Mike exclusions should be done in the fall to protect nursery colonies.  If you must do it then it is advisable to do it ASAP before females give birth.  Pups are born in your area averaging in the may - early june timeframe. 

[LarryH]

Mike -- last year the bats started arriving in numbers about mid-April, with most of them here by the 1st of May.  I started seeing pup about the 2nd week of May. 

This year, though, I already have 5 bats in the houses, so they are starting early this year.  Apparently, the very mild winter we had is bringing them back early.

So, it would be my guess that you'll have to do it as soon as possible.

Larry



 

[BatMan]

I realize it's a very sensitive time line . But I need to do this for the bats because I've seen how my grandma swings a broom at these little guys:). I already have the bat house installed on the side of her barn. I need to be up there when the bats are moving because I don't know how or where their entrance/exit is nor does my grandma. So I need them to be active. You don't have to worry I will do my very best to get up there at the right time and also locate their roost and check to make sure no pups are present before I do the exclusion.

So Larry my question to is.......deal or no deal :D:D Sorry couldn't pass it up.

So are the bats in your house going out forging every night or at least when the weather permits ?


Also Larry..what color is your bat houses ? Any pics ? If I remember correctly you have the mayberry houses right ? I'm thinking I'm going to take up a smaller bat house to install on the house wherever the entrance/exit is. The bat house I have installed up there already is a dark grey.

Thanks

[LarryH]

I don't know if they are going out every night, or not.  I've been working such long hours that I can't be home at dusk most evenings to watch them.  They did go out last evening, and this evening -- that is when I discovered there were 5 of them, when I had only seen 2 of them before.  We have a cold spell moving in, with it back down into the low 40's again on Tuesday and Wednesday, so that will probably keep them in their house.

I wish I could help you, but with my back I am no longer able to climb ladders or get up on houses. 

Yes, I have the Maberry houses, mounted on a pole in the pasture -- there were bats in the neighbor's barn, so I decided to put houses up near there -- which is also close to the creek that runs through the pasture. I think that is why I was fortunate enough to get a lot of bats in the houses the first year they were up. I had to block it off from the cows, though, since they like to rub against the pole.  The houses are dark brown and dark grey.   I had posted a picture of them last year, on the photo forum, and you can see it at http://www.batnic.org/forum/forum5/176.html

 

[Joe Spencer]

Wow! I wasn't going to check for another week or two but I will now.  Late April occupancy has been the earliest for me in my area of Massachusetts. 

I have two guano particles beneath my Mega Rocket bat house.  No bats inside the rocket though.  Maybe it was used as a stopover between feeding on one of the warm nights this spring or possibly a temporary roost for a lone bat.

[LarryH]

Last night, at about 11:30, I was getting ready to go to bed and looked out the window towards the garage to make sure everything was closed up for the night.  I happened to see 3 bats soaring around the mecury vapor light looking for bugs that gather there.  It was in the low-60's at that time.

Next week, we are supposed to see temperatures in the 70's, so I think more bats will be coming back.  I haven't seen any of the Purple Martins yet, though, and that is always the true beginning of spring!

I love to have the bats back!  I really missed those little de-buggers over the winter!

 

[Terry Lobdell]

Larry,

Do you think they were little browns or big browns? All I have seen yet are big browns.

[LarryH]

I think they were all Big Brown's, but I can't be sure of that.  I know there are two Little Brown's in one of the houses, but there are also several Big Browns in there.

 

[LarryH]

This afternoon, I saw the first pair of Purple Martin's visiting their house.  So, spring is really here!  The Barn Swallows are also building in the hay barn.  It is so nice seeing the swallows soar by day, and the bats by night. 

 

[BatMan]

Well I went up to Indiana this past weekend to try the exclusion. I got up there about an hour before dusk so I had some time to get my bags in and get ready to walk around the house to try and catch the bats leaving. It was about 65  degrees and after about an hour I saw one bat fly, what looked to be out of the side of the house where an attic vent was with a small space they could possibly get in and out of. So I figured maybe I missed the majority of them leave.  So I figured I'd go up in the attic in the morning to see how many I'm dealing with.

So I'm up in the attic the next morning wondering how many bats I'm going to be amazed by and low and behold there's none to be found. A ton of guano but no bats. Some of the guano looked to be very old but some I would think could have been from the winter or possibly last summer. So do you think I could have a winter hibernation site there or they just found a better place. This is the same house I saved the two browns from during Christmas.

I did end up getting my fill of bats though. I went to my cousins barn where he has always heard bats but never seen them, after looking and listening for 20 mins I found about 15 bats hanging on to the rafters so I decided to hang the small 3 chamber house I brought up with me, inside the barn. We got it as high as we could and while we were up there we must have seen about 75 bats flying around that we disturbed. I think they'll use it because there didn't seem to be a lot of roosting space where more than 20 bats could roost together. I'm making a bigger interior style bat house now so he can mount it in the barn.

By the way all my relatives think I'm crazy for driving 1700 miles for some bats but I don't think so.:D

 

[Joe Spencer]

1700 miles shows passion for nature and bats! Nice work!  Maybe it was just a small bachelor colony which had been using it for years.  I remembered the below from my early day exposure with BCI and Tony Koch's efforts:




Koch put up nine special bat houses in the loft of his barn to create a more
hospitable environment for nursing mother bats. These unusual houses have open
sides because of the warmth of the loft. Mother bats routinely move their pups
from house to house, perhaps to escape parasites or guano accumulation.


http://www.batcon.org/batsmag/v11n1-5.html