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Sharon G
Member
| Joined: | Wed May 29th, 2002 |
| Location: | Zillah, Washington |
| Posts: | 4 |
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Posted: Sat Jun 8th, 2002 04:17 pm |
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I'm moving my info out of testdrive to expose it to more responses. For those wanting to know my original post- it's in testdrive :oops:  Thanks, Joe for your response. My husband said that the location that we have chosen is about 100 ft from the orchard border. We intend to mount two small houses back to back on pipe poles to deter predators.  : Is this too close? How are the houses doing that are 500ft from the orchard border?  Thanks for any help
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Joe Spencer
Administrator
| Joined: | Mon Feb 11th, 2002 |
| Location: | Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 530 |
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Posted: Sun Jun 9th, 2002 03:39 am |
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| Sharon great news. You can never be too close to an orchard, if that is what you meant. The houses that I mentioned that were about 500 ft. from orchard were mounted on the homeowners house and they still have many bats. Have not done a bat exit count this year at that site. One thing I can mention is bat houses which are mounted on poles frequently receive a lot of sun. This is great but can be a problem depending on the color of the houses and the species of bat. Big brown bats usually abandon roosts when temperatures exceed 95 degrees f. Small bat houses which are painted a dark color with a lot of sun exposure might be intolerable for big browns on a hot summer day even in the washington area. Mounting them back to back will help buffer temperature extremes however. Additionally here is a tip that has helped me: Utilize a 1/4" to 1/2" in horizontal vent halfway up/down on the bat houses either on the sides or on the fronts. Paint the upper half of the bat house a darker shade and the lower half white. This is best utilized in taller bat houses 3ft. tall and up. The temperature differences between the top of the bat houses and bottoms will be substantial and will give bats a nice range from which to choose. You said that you were erecting SMALL bat houses, what is their actual size : Height, width, depth # of partitions/chambers etc. also how close are you to the nearest substantial water like a lake river pond etc.. If you have a chance post a picture of the bat houses I will help all I can and as soon as our site hits the search engines maybe others can help with more info and advice in the near future... Cheers and good luck
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Sharon G
Member
| Joined: | Wed May 29th, 2002 |
| Location: | Zillah, Washington |
| Posts: | 4 |
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Posted: Tue Jun 18th, 2002 03:20 pm |
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Hi Joe,
Thanks for the info. :thumbup: I had wanted to get the pictures to you, but I have to be out of town for a week. I'll send them on my return. From what you said, we are rethinking our approach. These houses are 2 chamber houses smaller than 3ft H. I'm sure the heat may be too much in midsummer. When I made it I attended a bat workshop at the Teton Science School in Jackson, Wyo. They suggested to paint it black. When I returned home, I e-mailed Mark Kiser, and he suggested to paint one dark and one black. We haven't assembled the second house yet. With their smaller size maybe they would be better mounted on a building. When I send the pictures, I'll show a chiminy that's about 20 plus feet high. Maybe we could do that. It is on the north side of the house though, but we are quite north, and may be able to mount in a way that the sun can hit it some of the day. Their is a canal just across the road from this side of the house. About 1/4 mile west of us on the other side of the road is an old unused barn. Bats may be living there, but I have to check with the owner to see. Well that's all I have time for. If I can I'll try to get those pictures out before I go. Thanks so much for the info. :grin: Sharon G
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