Bat House Forum

[Richathome]

I counted 6 little brown bats staying in my bat houses this morning. I'm curious to see how long they stay around this fall and give updates. I haven't seen the little brown that was staying in the Blue Bird house since the first 3 days of Sept. Perhaps he has joined the others in the bat houses.







These are 3 views of my 3 chamber and 5 chamber houses I erected at the end of May and had 24 little browns on exit in the evenings at the end of June. I'm very pleased with my success this summer and wish I were home more to have made a lot more observations. The houses are mounted on a 1 1/2" steel pole and can be raised and lowered with a heavy duty brake winch. I only lowered the house 3 times this summer to count the bats. Did not want to scare them away. I'm planning to erect another back to back setup close by eariler next spring. I'm looking forward to this winter project.

Good Luck with your bat colonies. Rich

[Richathome]

Oct 4th and 8 Little Brown Bats remain here using my 2 bat houses. Last evening I observed only 3 bats at exit and after sitting and watching for 45 minutes after dark curiosity got the best of me. Shining my mini mag flashlight into the crevices revealed 5 more bats still remaining inside. A 6 AM quick check this morning and the 8 bats were back in the houses. Temps have been Lo 40's the last few mornings ranging into the Hi 60's for daytime highs. After more bat behavior searching I found that bats may not leave their roosts for possibly a couple hours after darkness. That may explain why the bats remained staying in the housing.

I've found this website to be very full of bat information. My search was for the Little Brown but many other species are listed.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Myotis_lucifugus.html

I'll monitor my housing and update the bats migration to hibernation. As this is my very 1st year, I have questions on their departure time this fall and their arrival next spring. I believe these remaining bats are signs of good things to come next spring.

Rich

[cloudman75]

Rich,

I am surprised that the bats tolerated you lowering their house without moving on. My little browns don't even like me shining a light into the house at midnight and a few sometimes leave. I like the appearance of your houses back to back and cannot vision how the winch is rigged to raise and lower the houses. It appears the pole is between them, but I cannot see details as to how they are mounted on something to let them move up and down. I like the idea. I f you take the houses down after the bats leave , how about posting a photo on the winch etc. or email me and I would appreciate it.

 

Frank

[IowaNate]

 Rich, it is best not to raise or lower the house with bats in it. I try to NEVER touch my bat houses when they are occupied.

  In my personal observations and research, shining a light or reflecting sunlight from a mirror during the day for a few seconds to see if the house is occupied does no significant harm.. And you had the right idea on counting the exact number of bats...watch them leave at sunset and shine a light into the house for a few seconds after most of the activity has ceased to see if there are still a few stragglers left in the house.

  Shining a light into the house at sunset or when they are about to depart will greatly delay them leaving the house to feed, so many bats will leave when it is even darker and you might not be able to count them.

[Richathome]

Oct 18th and my predawn quick peek into the houses revealed 5 little brown bats remaining here. Since my last report I've had up to 9 bats but the last few days 5 or 6 has been the count. On the warmer evenings I just do the exit count and cooler damp evenings I skip the checks. We had some light frost this morning so departure may be soon, I'll keep observing til then.

IowaNate, I have some lessons learned from this being my first season hosting bats and one of them is that even lowering the housing to get a closer view inside the crevices with a flashlight during daylight hours does little help to seeing inside the houses. I have found that after the bats have departed for their evening feeding or right before dawn has been my best time to check with the least intrusion. I've watched the early mornings and have seen that most all the bats return before it is light enough for me to see very well. Standing below the houses and shining the light into the crevices when it is dark I can easily see and very quickly count the bats inside and keep this time very short. Although I've sat in a lawn chair and watched their habits often I fear spooking them away and give them their privacy. I certainly appreciate all your great comments and hopefully I never cause them to abandon the houses. Now that I know how to least disturb the bats, I am looking forward to next  summer to see if I can get a mother and pup count. What are your suggestions for doing that? I would think this would be the greatest time to cause abandonment, disturbing mothers with pups.

Cloudman75, I plan to put up another pole for another set of houses and will start building the "pole slide setup" and post some pictures of the new setup and also take some pictures of my existing slide setup after the bats have departed and also post them.  The two reasons I chose to erect bat housing on a pole and slide setup similar to my Purple Martin housing are: #1- I can put in the ground socket and after the concrete has cured install the prepared pole all by myself although some help would make this job easier. #2 I can install the houses on the slide while standing on the ground and not worry about falling off a ladder. I'm old enough to be on Medicare and do not want to have to use it. The down side is the extra cost of the winch and slide materials. Also if the pole was erected where vandals could tamper with the winch then a gear lock would be needed and the winch handle removed. The up side is easy annual maintenance inspections or changes. I'm very pleased with this setup and thank you for your interest.

Rich.


 

[cloudman75]

Rich,

Thanks for comments. I am interested for the same reasons that you mentioned. I am 75 here headed toward 76 in March. I don't bounce quite as high as I used to in my younger days and prefer to stay on the ground. I'll be looking forward to viewing your posts. I would only use the winch for errecting and maintenance.

 

Frank

[IowaNate]

 As for getting a mother/pup count. I usually wait untill mid/late June and count the number of bats exiting the house at dusk, then after most of the activity has ceased (usually 30 minutes from when the bats started to leave) you can shine a light into the house and try to count the babies as most of the adults have left already. A nice fiberglass 12 foot step ladder might help you get closer to the house without disturbing it.

[Richathome]

Vacancy sign installed. My last 2 bats disappeared the 3rd of November. They withstood some cold nights before finally leaving although on cool evenings I saw insects flying about. Now I have to decide on two more houses to place nearby my first houses and maybe with lighter color so they will have a choice of perhaps different temperature ranges. This has been a very interesting first season with bats for me and I'm very much looking forward to next spring.

Terry Lobdell, you were right when you said I could have some bachelors staying into October, (6 that dwindled down to the last 2) that was very close to when they left. Do you have an idea of when I might expect their return next spring? I'll be watching for early arrivals and see how early they come back.

Rich.

[Terry Lobdell]

Rich, The earliest I have observed little brown guano under a bat house was April 9th here in NWPA.  I'm guessing I am a little further north than you are...........You should have them back for sure by April 15th if not sooner.

I have observed big browns roosting in my boxes as early as March 22 and as late as Nov. 28th.

A guy north of me a couple miles from Lake Erie has a barn with at least 50 big browns. He said on warm days in Jan. & Feb. a few will be flying around inside the barn in broad daylight.

[kerbat]

Rich,

Nice first year experience!

I would like to post some pictures with a message. Can you give simple explanation of how you included your pics.

TIA, batmen must generally be old guys, I'm 72
bernie kerr