bat houses?

jack707 · Jun 9, 2015

I put up a bat house on a 4x4 14' up away from the trees and in the AM its sunny there. My question is how long before the bats find the house? there plenty of bugs for them to eat here!.

RobA · Jun 9, 2015

I made one and put it up about 5 years ago. I think they finally are using it this year....

breadtrk · Jun 9, 2015

I'm in bat country so I put up 3 of them on the property when I bought 30 years ago. The one on the security light pole was being used the 2nd year. One on the barn took 4 years. The 3rd on the telephone pole that goes over the mountain...... I'm not sure but there is a 15 ft deep pile of poo under it.

JerryK · Jun 9, 2015

We get some during the time of the year the moths are thick and flying around at night. The tend to overnight by a food source. Found one in a wood pile years ago when I was unstacking wood in the daytime Scared the krap out of me when it took off... You see them flying around about 20-30 feet up just as the light starts to finally fade into night... when the stars are coming out.

jack707 · Jun 10, 2015

Thanks alot guys I just hope it doesn't take years for them!.

breadtrk · Jun 10, 2015

breadtrk said:
I'm in bat country so I put up 3 of them on the property when I bought 30 years ago. The one on the security light pole was being used the 2nd year. One on the barn took 4 years. The 3rd on the telephone pole that goes over the mountain...... I'm not sure but there is a 15 ft deep pile of poo under it.

I put that 3rd one up and pretty much forgot about it. This thread made me go look. Guess who is cutting a trail through the years of over grown brush to get at that pile? I bet there are at least 5 FEL buckets full there, and the ground around it should be very rich too. I'm going to incorporate it into a Garlic bed I'm developing for use this fall.

breadtrk · Jun 10, 2015

breadtrk said:
I'm in bat country so I put up 3 of them on the property when I bought 30 years ago. The one on the security light pole was being used the 2nd year. One on the barn took 4 years. The 3rd on the telephone pole that goes over the mountain...... I'm not sure but there is a 15 ft deep pile of poo under it.

I put that 3rd one up and pretty much forgot about it. This thread made me go look. Guess who is cutting a trail through the years of over grown brush to get at that pile? I bet there are at least 5 FEL buckets full there, and the ground around it should be very rich too. I'm going to incorporate it into a Garlic bed I'm developing for use this fall.

TCJatko · Jun 10, 2015

breadtrk said:
I'm in bat country so I put up 3 of them on the property when I bought 30 years ago. The one on the security light pole was being used the 2nd year. One on the barn took 4 years. The 3rd on the telephone pole that goes over the mountain...... I'm not sure but there is a 15 ft deep pile of poo under it.

You need to scoop that poop and use it in the garden; great fertilizer.

DrRod · Jun 10, 2015

Yes, in the old days, they mined it from the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns and shipped it as far as France for fertilizer. Hard to believe that could be done at a profit but it must have worth it to the end users.

Similar, they shipped cliff loads of bird droppings from the west coast of South America. Bolivia and Peru fought a war over ownership of the fertile area -- Bolivia lost and so has no coastal territory. They are still arguing over it.

I've noticed how green the grass was under my martin house [which was only ever populated by swallows but that's ok].

dfkrug · Jun 11, 2015

DrRod said:
Yes, in the old days, they mined it from the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns and
shipped it as far as France for fertilizer. Hard to believe that could be done at a profit but it must have
worth it to the end users.

The guano was also used at the time in the making of explosives.

We found the million+ bats that vomit forth from the Carlsbad Cavern entrance at dusk to be
more amazing than the inside of the caves.