Too much guano: Getting Bats out of barn - ideas?

[oosik]

As Director of Env. Health - I had to deal with rabies, rabies shots & rabies specimens directly.

If you find yourself in a situation where a rabies specimen must be collected - bat, dog, raccoon, coyote - there is ONE BIG NO-NO.

DO NOT shoot the animal in the head. The brain of the rabies specimen is examined by the lab. Specimens shot in head or with a mashed head WILL NOT be able to be examined. The attending physician will recommend that the individual MUST go thru the rabies shot series.

 

[DarrellSimpson]

I saw a video on you-tube where some people caught a mouse in a sticky trap and they were able to free it by gently pouring vegetable oil on the glue where the animal was stuck , it seemed to work really well , I am going to try it the next time I catch a snake or lizard in a sticky trap by mistake . I sure wish I could attract bats to my area , I live near water with tons of biting insects , but the bats just wont move into my bat houses , and I have studied and built and placed the houses per all the " expert " recommendations .

 

[roadhunter]

Bats don't get much love these days but that wasn't always the case.

From 1892 to 1899 the Nebraska football teams were known as the Bugeaters named for the bull bats in the state.

 

[dfkrug]

I assume the barn has a zillion entry points for the bats so blocking them probably isn't a reasonable suggestion. But, I have also read about people who put big bat houses outside their structures right beside the main bat entry, and then blocked the bat entry and the bats moved into the "new home". Whatever you do, lights, etc, if you give them alternate housing I bet it will work better.

I does work!

A friend had a huge octagon barn, completely infested with bats. Guano was a foot deep throughout.
Bat houses were first installed on the vertical outside walls, fairly high off the ground. These were
bat condos, and they were full of nesting bats in just a few days.

The next step was to seal off the barn, which was a huge job. That place was so bad inside that
you could not enter for more than a few seconds without a huge amount of screeching and
severe nasal assault.

Years later, the barn is usable, but still kinda stinks.

 

[prichard]

I had a problem with birds in my tire warehouse, they perched on the truss rafters and po oped all over ever tire in the racks, we had it on our hands , clothes shoes, just not good, had to keep plastic wrap over the desk and paper work. The chirping at times was overwhelming. One day we had a Anhydrous tank stop by for a tire repair, the driver said he would run them off. He ran the vapor line into the building and shut the doors, gave it a 30 minute leak and the next day they were gone, must have flew out the hole they came in. It even fixed the mouse problem. It must have left a coating on all the rafters because they stayed gone.The only negative was it changed the color of all the carbon copy work orders to brand new colors. So maybe you could buy a few gallon of the cheap Ammonia at the store around $1.50 a gallon and put it in pans for a few day and stink them out or maybe a pump up sprayer on there roosting area, it will kill germs also. I have used it to strip floor wax and it ran me off a few times.

I don't understand that. I thought the danger from guano was the massive amounts of ammonia gas it releases.

Nevermind. I looked it up and cannot find any reference to ammonia in bat guano. I either mis-remembered or was told wrong. Carry on.

 

[Paddy]

We have the opposite issue, we want to attract bats. We built a 2 ft cubed house that can hold 2000 + bats. Still waiting for bats!

 

[dfkrug]

We have the opposite issue, we want to attract bats. We built a 2 ft cubed house that can hold
2000 + bats. Still waiting for bats!

I built a bathouse and mounted on a pole also. No bats. It seems they like bathouses on high walls, or nooks
and crannies inside buildings.

 

[MossRoad]

We have the opposite issue, we want to attract bats. We built a 2 ft cubed house that can hold 2000 + bats. Still waiting for bats!

Move it to the east or south side of a building, up on the wall about 10-12 feet and see what happens.

 

[2ndhalf]

No Market??

Bat guano is a fantastic soil amendment used by gardeners and indoor growers. I suspect if you put an ad on craigslist for your bat guano you would be surprised with the response as it is very popular, especially in your part of the world. Everyone form marijuana growers to organic vegetable gardeners uses that stuff.

THis is just a quick search on e-bay.
bat guano | eBay

Funny I was thinking the same thing I would LOVE to have some bat guano for my raised beds.. I would love to have bats period!

Have you thought about building some bat houses away from your barn before you try to get rid of them in the barn?

 

[2ndhalf]

We have the opposite issue, we want to attract bats. We built a 2 ft cubed house that can hold 2000 + bats. Still waiting for bats!

I see your problem... bats prefer a craftsman style home :laughing: