Any bat experts?

Old_Hickory · Sep 17, 2003

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( buck shot works for bats )</font>

Wait till they go to roost,they would be easier to hit,then when daylight roles around patch the barn roof.
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Docsknotinn · Sep 17, 2003

Good grief if their in the barn dont shoot them with lead. Just break open the crimp on those shot shells, empty the shot and fill with navy or some other hard beans. re seal the crimp with candle wax. You will need to get a little close but you wont look like a psycho blowing holes in your barn. lol. If you can shoot the flying we should probably sign you up for the US olympic shooting team. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Dave

Old_Hickory · Sep 17, 2003

LOL.
I was only kidding..... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

pruntyc · Sep 17, 2003

He said he couldn't see them, so it would be hard to shoot them. Even Annie Oakley would have a problem with that. I think that the smoke might work, but again you probably would have to do it a few times to keep them out. After you get them out, then it wouldn't be such a problem, it just that you have so many. But if you can get them cut down by 80 or 90% it would help a lot. I would think. We had a big barn in the country, but never did have a bat problem, we had a few around, but never saw any in the barn.

Hoosier_Daddy · Sep 17, 2003

I was thinking about this today and remembered what my Pop did at Gramps barn when I was a kid and it goes right along with what Pruntyc's wife said.

Dad worked on the rail road and he always brought home flares. I remember him putting one in a tin popcorn bucket and lighting it in the barn for what he said was to get rid of the bugs and birds.

I do remember we had a lot of spiders repel down out of the rafters.

How would an exterminator get rid of them. Tarp the barn and set of those bug bombs?

I have tarped the top of our deck and tossed bug bombs under it to get rid of wasp. Maybe he is going to do the same thing to your barn. He sure wants to charge enough.

I have never personaly smoke a bat. Did smoke a white owl once.

Tom

Docsknotinn · Sep 17, 2003

I guess we make quite a bunch /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif We can break out the white owls and swisher sweets ( although I prefer Bolivar Belicoso Finos ) , and make some shot shell cocktails while Dick builds a fire in the barn and blows smoke signals /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif If we can see them flyin I have some tracer rounds but you might have to send the rest of the ponderosa out for dinner while we play Doc. The old hay loft might never be the same after we get through ! lol. Hay dick, just back that old two poper up in the barn and let er rip ! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif Dave

timb · Sep 18, 2003

Richard - we had a colony about that size in my parent's farmhouse attic - but there was no mistaking where they came out (through a crack between the outside chimney and house wall). You could also see the guano stains on the wall and chimney.

Come dusk you'd hear them squeeking as they squeezed through - and then 2 or 3 or more would pop out together. This would repeat every 5-10 seconds or so for better than a half-hour.

We also tried moth balls by the bucket full - that didn't push them out either.

(Theoretically CCI 44 mag shot shells worked well but I wouldn't know anything about that. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

Eventually most of the colony seems to have moved on (to our neighbor's horse barn! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif ) we seem to have only had a few dozen for years.

In PA - bats are not anywhere near the worst carrier of rabies by % (raccoons are) or transfer to humans/pets - but can be one of the most dangerous since most people don't know when they've been bit while sleeping.

Look for quano trails on the outside of the barn.

Tim

cowboydoc · Sep 18, 2003

there was no mistaking where they came out (through a crack between the outside chimney and house wall). You could also see the guano stains on the wall and chimney.

Come dusk you'd hear them squeeking as they squeezed through - and then 2 or 3 or more would pop out together. This would repeat every 5-10 seconds or so for better than a half-hour.

Yes this is exactly what I've told is how it happens but I'll be danged if I can find any sign or see them ever come out. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Tonester · Sep 18, 2003

We got 'em. Built 'em some nice BatCondos out on the trees around the barns and they moved right in...really!! They are just simple boxes with perch (hanging?) rod at the top inside and an open bottom, about a foot and a half wide by 2 feet high and 4 or 5 inches thick. Really, I'm not kidding....really....

Well, it worked for us.... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

MDSteve · Sep 24, 2003

Can you get a pic of your bat house. I want to build some but I am too cheap to buy the plans online. The guy next door picked up a mosquito magnet and caught 12 in the past 4 weeks. I am sure the bats can do better than that.

Steve