Bat Boxes

During the summer when the pool is open, we can sit the bats flying at night around the pool and pond eating all the bugs they can catch. This time of year, I feel bad when I see them on our house and always had wanted to make bat boxes for them. I have also heard that there is a epidemic affect/effecting bats around the NE part of our Country. Go figure without bats, the world would be a bugger place to live. lol

If you go to this link, on page 6 there are a few plans in pdf format how to build bat boxes. Also lots of other stuff here too.
http://pcpotato.com/index.php?option=co ... y=2&page=1

Or you could do it the lazy mans way, like I did. Just buy a house with cracks in the cornice and never fix them. Your attic will be full of bats like mine.

dtzackus wrote:Thanks for the tips, but my "old bat" wouldn't go in one... lol

Here I was thinking "Bat Boxes" was going to be a hunting topic and not a hobbies topic. If you'd like bats as a hobby, for a nominal cost, I will ship some to you.

bksaun wrote:Can I get one big enough for my wife and her mother?

Bk

HA HA I like that. My X wife almost died one night when the closet rod broke and she almost broke her neck. Sleeping upsidedown like that....

a year ago the heavy snows took down an old barn which was home to bats... lots of bats. Last summer very few were flying around and I had a lot more bugs in the evening when I sit and relax outside. This year I am going to try a bat house but, they are pretty exact in requirements for bats to set up house. If anyone interested http://www.batmanagement.com

ken wrote:Why would you want bats around?

As a sheep farmer I LOVE bats, and in fact, have an out building that is loaded with them that I intend to jack up and move to a new location. Before I do, I am going to call the Game Wardens in to make sure we move them with the utmost care...

WHY?

Bats eat their weight in insects per night. For my sheep this means less irritation and money I do not have to spend on insecticide. The only issue is, the bats fly and come out at night, to combat that issue, I use ducks in their pasture. They eat the insects that are down low and come out during the day. (Ducks bed down at night). It is a strategy that drastically reduces insects bothering my sheep.

BTW: I am not a crunchy, hippy type granola that is into weird agricultural ideas. I am a 10th generational sheep farmer and about as redneck as they come. The truth is, using bats and ducks really pummels the insect population here for a very nice return on the dollar. I'll go back to using insecticides to rid my barns of the flies when it is cheap and works again. I do not see that happening any time soon, so bring on the bats...

When we were kids we used to go into an abandoned mine in Rockaway, NJ. There were thousands of North American Brown bats in there. It was a horizontal iron mine shaft, that had steel plates welded over the entrance. But somebody torched out a little entrance over the years.

I just painted a big house this summer, the bats love the space between the rake boards and the siding. I chased a few of them out without harming them. I don't think they like to be woken up in the daytime. When I got to the front of the colonial style house, it's under a full length porch with tall columns; I had to power wash it. I power washed the wood shutters right in place. I opened them to power wash the backs. I scooted a bat out from the back of one on the second floor and it fell to the floor soaking wet. I put the little guy in a rag to get warm and stuck it in the bushes. I was soaked myself, and checked the bat when I finished.
Then I took it home with the intent of leaving it in the shed in a box of rags. It flew off when I went to transfer it. I was careful due to worry about rabies. The little guy bared his teeth at me, vampirish
I wonder if they eat stinkbugs? That would be like a whole turkey to a bat

NoSmoke wrote:BTW: I am not a crunchy, hippy type granola that is into weird agricultural ideas. I am a 10th generational sheep farmer and about as redneck as they come.

HAHAHA - more power to you

Ha...in rereading what I wrote, maybe I could have worded that a little different as us sheep farmers already get teased enough as is. But I am good for a laugh, even if it is at my expense!!

I am surrounded by wetlands and have lots of bats and millions of frogs. I am very concerned with the drop in the bat population in the NE I read about but I have not noticed that. As a horse farmer I allow no horse feed with sugar in it and use no weed killer anywhere (tough). Glyphosate is evil and now weeds are getting resistant to that too as like antibiotics we have overused it. I have very few flying insects of any sort other than yellow jackets and have always marveled at mother natures balancing act. I have too many spiders for my liking and six barn cats keep the rodents at bay. The only complaint is a huge, noisy, old buzzard that regularly flies over the place that my wife always greets with "good morning mom".

Now you're slaying me. You don't use any sweet feed on them thar fancy horses of yours?

Wife & I were just outside last night watching 4 or 5 bats do acrobatics in the sky catching the billions of bugs we have out here. They love my house .. and barn.