Anybody ever build a bat house?

[Ryan Lee]

Has anyone ever build a bat house. I've been looking for some plans online, and all I find are really small ones.

Does anybody have any plans for a larger house. Like a 3 tier house.

[Jamie Buxton]

I built two, from plans from www.batcon.org. They have three chambers for bats. When I built them, perhaps five years ago, the plans were free. It seems that they are now encorporated in a pamphlet shown at http://www.batcatalog.com/scripts/pr...?idProduct=193. The house pictured on the front of the book is what I built. The houses took a year or so to attract occupants, but have been fully-occupied since then.

[Ryan Lee]

Jamie,

Has having the bats around controlled your mosquito population? That is the main reason I want to build one.

Thanks for the input.

[Homer Faucett]

I built two, from plans from www.batcon.org. They have three chambers for bats. When I built them, perhaps five years ago, the plans were free. It seems that they are now encorporated in a pamphlet shown at http://www.batcatalog.com/scripts/pr...?idProduct=193. The house pictured on the front of the book is what I built. The houses took a year or so to attract occupants, but have been fully-occupied since then.

I built the same one a few years ago. I haven't had much luck with occupancy yet. Maybe this will be the year.

[Matt Meiser]

I found this plan on the referenced site.

[Tim Wagner]

ahh matt you beat me to the one I was about to suggest. I have a friend I need to build one for. If you want it bigger just keep stacking chambers.

[Fred Voorhees]

I'd like to build a few of them some day. However, upon reading up on the subject on the internet, I really have nowhere that is prime location for positioning them. I'm also interested in the mosquito fighting possibilities of the deal.

[Tim Wagner]

I really have nowhere that is prime location for positioning them

what does your research say a good position/location would be?

[Al Killian]

I was told the south side of the barn.

[Ryan Lee]

Also, they say to put them like 12 to 15' in the air.

[Fred Voorhees]

what does your research say a good position/location would be?

All day sun exposure. Mounting in trees seldom works and poles and buildings are the preferred mounting method. I don't want to mount one to my house. I have an extreme dislike for putting any holes in the siding of my home that aren't absolutely necessary. I could mount it to my chimney, but the sun exposure there is very minimal. Proximity to water within 1/4 mile is recommended and at least 12' high, but 15 to 20 feet is better. I could mount it on a pole in my yard, but that would add another obstacle to mow around.

[David G Baker]

Ryan,
I have an area on my property that has water in it at least 7 months out of the year. The water is shallow and is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. Between the thousands of frogs and many bats, the mosquito population is not too bad.
I am not sure where the bats are living now but I am thinking about adding a couple bat houses to encourage more bats to stay in my area to help cut down on the mosquitoes that have survived.
David B

[Bryan Rocker]

Well to add a funny side to bats. Late last summer I was pulling off the old fake very home made shutters off the side of my brick veneer. I went to pull the one off the side of my 10' living room window using a 3 ft pry bar and it fell to the ground, as it did so there was a black object that fell with it and the shutter fell on it. Come to find out it was a bat. How it got up behind there is beyond me but he did. We laid teh shutter over him and in a few ours he was clinging to the back of it. By next morning he was gone. It sure did startle me and the mrs. I may build me a bat house or two in teh future.....

[Paul Douglass]

I have a great place for one, south side of house, lots of sun, two stories up, but who wants bat droppings down the side of theri house ?

[Jamie Buxton]

I have a great place for one, south side of house, lots of sun, two stories up, but who wants bat droppings down the side of theri house ?

The two bathouses I built are fastened to the house. The guano doesn't drip down the outside of the house, but rather collects as a small pile of dry droppings on the ground.