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Gran
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| Joined: | Wed Sep 8th, 2004 |
| Location: | Dothan, Alabama USA |
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Posted: Sun Mar 20th, 2005 12:19 am |
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| Some of the info that I have read indicates that bigger is better at least for bat houses. I'm thinking of trying a 4 ft X 4 ft box 4 chamber house. Is that too big?
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BatMan
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| Joined: | Wed Jul 28th, 2004 |
| Location: | Florida USA |
| Posts: | 134 |
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Posted: Sun Mar 20th, 2005 01:37 am |
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I'm not sure if you mean your going to use a 4x4 sheet of plywood or the house will be 4x4 when finished. If your going to have a 4x4 finished house then your going to have waayyy more than 4 chambers, each chamber should be 3/4" - 1" apart. A very big project ! :thumbup:
If I were you I'd start out a little smaller to make sure you have the color, location, etc. to the liking of the bats first. Then once you have bats in that one then you could go all out. Just my opinion though, whatever you decide to do good luck !!! 
After reading your post again I think you mean 4' tall x 4' wide, right ? How deep or thick is it going to be ? Most people use 2''x6'' which should give you 5 chambers or 2x8, 2x10, or 2x12.
I used Scott's Big Bat House Plans http://habitat.ms11.net//bat/bathome.htm
I built 2 of them and put them back to back. Just something to look at for some ideas.
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Gran
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| Joined: | Wed Sep 8th, 2004 |
| Location: | Dothan, Alabama USA |
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Posted: Sun Mar 20th, 2005 03:21 pm |
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I was planning a 5 chamber. Maybe I would be better to build 2 instead and mount them back to back.
On a side note my rocket house has bats. I haven't seen them yet but they are leaving evidence on ground underneath
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BatMan
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Posted: Mon Mar 21st, 2005 04:02 am |
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Well there you go
If I had signs of bats I'd go all out !
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Joe Spencer
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| Joined: | Mon Feb 11th, 2002 |
| Location: | Massachusetts USA |
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Posted: Tue Mar 22nd, 2005 09:52 pm |
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Awesome Gran. I hope to get some bats in my rocket this year seen below during fall mounting day. Do you have any pictures of your rocket and how far is it from water?
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Mark Kiser
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| Joined: | Tue Mar 12th, 2002 |
| Location: | Austin, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 58 |
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Posted: Tue Mar 22nd, 2005 11:10 pm |
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48-inch wide nursery houses (31 inches tall, about 5 inches deep) have worked very well for free-tailed bats and evening bats. Should work well for big browns and little browns too. Construction is the same as standard nursery houses, but use 2-inch lumber for side pieces and use 3/4 inch exterior plywood for roofs for better longevity. When paired back to back between two stout steel poles, leaving a 1 inch gap in between, the pair can hold about 1,800 bats.
I would not build anything bigger than this when first starting out. For installation you really need a tractor w/ front-end loader. Good project for farms and ranches.
A 24-inch wide x 36 inch tall nursery house with 4 or 5 chambers would be a better first project for the serious devotee, at least until the first bats arrive.
FYI--Single-chamber rocket boxes mounted on 8 x 8 inch post sections are apparently doing well in field tests; one in Illinois is being used as a maternity site by Indiana myotis and little brown myotis. The box weighs about 100 pounds however, but the huge post must act like a great thermal sink. With a special auger bit, a steel pipe can be inserted into the base of the wooden post. Not a project for the faint of heart (or back).
Mark Kiser
BCI
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Gran
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| Joined: | Wed Sep 8th, 2004 |
| Location: | Dothan, Alabama USA |
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Posted: Wed Mar 23rd, 2005 02:35 am |
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The pole for the house is mounted about 4 ft from the edge of a 2 acre pond. Sorry I don't have any pictures yet . I'll try and take some on my next off day. I put it up late last summer. I saw bats arround it but never was able to be sure that they were actually using it.
I decided to try a bit more something a bit more manageable than the 4X4 size. I am using the same material to make a 2X2 house with 10 chambers. Its still going to be a bit heavy but at least easier to get arms around.
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Joe Spencer
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| Joined: | Mon Feb 11th, 2002 |
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Posted: Fri Mar 25th, 2005 03:59 pm |
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| Thanks Mark, and Gran the easiest way to determine if the bats are using the bat house as an evening digestive roost (temporary) between feedings or as a diurnal roost is to put some light colored boards or similar on the ground directly below bat house opening. Guano droppings will easily be seen even if there is only one or two bats using it. I have counted droppings which increased during the day showing diurnal activity. If accumulations only occur over night then it may just be an evening PIT STOP for the bats.
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Gran
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Posted: Wed Mar 30th, 2005 01:38 am |
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Here is my Rocket house
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Joe Spencer
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Posted: Thu Mar 31st, 2005 01:38 am |
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| Looks good. Looking forward to confirmed occupancy results. If your in the states, which state is bat house mounted in. Any guess as to what species is utilizing the rocket?
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Gran
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Posted: Thu Mar 31st, 2005 03:32 am |
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I'm in what is affectionately known as Lower Alabama(LA). Extreme SE corner of Alabama. I have no idea of what kind of bat they are. Small winged creatures that fly arround pond :grin: . How do you tell species apart?
It is being used but I haven't had a chance to tell if it is day or night usage. It looks like the paint has been scratched off at the side vents. I wonder if they are using that as entrance instead of bottom
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Joe Spencer
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Posted: Thu Mar 31st, 2005 09:25 pm |
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| I don't see any side vents in the photo. Are they on the other side? You can determine the most common species in your area often by knowing guano size, if they're in the myotis family their guano is smaller than in the fuscus (big brown bat family). Of course the latter are the common bats in my area, yours may differ: http://batnic.tripod.com/guano.html
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Gran
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Posted: Thu Mar 31st, 2005 10:46 pm |
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| based on your pictures they are myotis.
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Joe Spencer
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Posted: Fri Apr 1st, 2005 01:56 am |
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Based on your location and range photos below, you are at the near limit of the little brown bat's range however, don't rule out the big brown bat, other myotis bats or another species in your bat house. I believe you have 15 or 16 species in your state and some endangered bats as well. Endangered bats are less likely to use bat houses but I believe a few have if recollection serves:
Little brown range
Big Brown range
ALABAMA BATS BELOW:
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0622/
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Gran
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Posted: Sat Apr 2nd, 2005 03:16 am |
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| I was told that a rather large colony of freetail bats were evicted from a nearby school about a year ago . Those at least seem to be fairly common around here. Too bad I didn't find out in time to try and put up a box at the school.
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