Getting Bats out of the Barn?

   / Getting Bats out of the Barn? #1  

ScipioUSA

Silver Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Messages
110
Tractor
MF 20 Industrial, Ghosts of Farmalls Past
Good morning everyone.

Wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to get bats to move out of a barn.

To start, I don't want to kill them. I like having them to keep the bugs down and I know the little guys are endangered. Also, I'm very glad that they moved out of my attic and are not in my house.

The issue is that they are up behind the rafters and purlins of my timber framed barn, and this time of year they are making quite a bit of guano. That is ending up all over my tractor and implements that are stored in there. Not only is it kinda gross, I'm worries about the sickness that can come along with it.

Had anyone had any luck getting them to move out of a barn structure? There is no way to seal this up right enough to exclude them. I tried an ultrasonic repeller, but that didn't seem to work, or maybe I needed a bunch more of them.

I thought about possibly starting a fire in a burn barrel or on a grill to see if the smoke would bother them, but I don't know that it could get concentrated enough to have them leave, and then they would just come back when the fire was out.

Any ideas?
 
   / Getting Bats out of the Barn? #2  
Good luck. I would never consider removing bats. Park else where, cover equipment, live with it. A fire in a barn no matter how contained is BAD idea. I don't know how often I have wiped bat s%$# off tractor seats and to date I am not sick. I don't recommend wiping it off then eating without washing your hands however living on a farm I'm sure I have done that many times.
 
   / Getting Bats out of the Barn? #3  
ScipioUSA, it would be helpful to contributors if you listed your state as knowing your seasonal climate likely will result in more useful answers.

The only way to move bats out of a their roost, short of killing them, is to prevent them from entering the barn. I suggest watching where their exit/ enter and then wait till winter and screen off those points and any other possible entry points. This will be difficult as bats are like mice and can squeeze through very small openings.

Until then place tarp over the tractor or buy an inexpensive pop up canopy to keep tractor covered.

Good luck.
 
   / Getting Bats out of the Barn? #4  
Google and buy one way exclusion device for bats, set that up on their entrances. I would do it late summer early fall to avoid maternity season. I would also install lots of bat house for them to relocate in.
 
   / Getting Bats out of the Barn? #5  
Might be worth trying one of the ultrasonic bat repellants listed on Amazon. Given the way bats locate food and navigate, it would seem that this method could work.
 
   / Getting Bats out of the Barn?
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Thanks for the tips everyone.

I'm in Upstate NY.

No possible way to exclude them. It's an old old barn, knot holes and open seams and sliding doors. Wonderful barn, but knowing what bats can squeeze into, there is no way that a one way door or exclusion device will work without a significant amount of construction.

I tried an ultrasonic device last summer and didn't seem to have any results. Maybe it's too big of a space or I didn't have it positioned correctly. They aren't the cheapest so didn't want to keep throwing money at it unless I was sure how to get it working.

I had read that mice and bats don't like peppermint oil, so I had wondered about finding one of those cow foggers that you would use for flu spray and seeing if spraying some peppermint oil up in the rafters would do it, but that's another thing that's not cheap if it won't actually work ...
 
   / Getting Bats out of the Barn? #7  
Until then place tarp over the tractor or buy an inexpensive pop up canopy to keep tractor covered.
That is what I did. I was also able to find their opening to the house and exclude them, but openings on a barn are a little different. For a time the gable window to the barn was removed for repair. Since I figured they were going to get in anyway I thought, great a place for the bats to come and go. But the crazy things would not use it, but instead would come back from feeding, 15min before sunrise, circle a few times, then fly straight into the side of the barn and try to latch onto a barn board. If successful they would crawl between the boards then inside. If not they would bounce off, and return for another flying leap, usually bouncing off and returning several times. I'm glad they're out of the house attic. I can work with them if they insist on being in the barn.
 
   / Getting Bats out of the Barn? #8  
I cured my bat issue long ago by erecting a Clearspan Truss Arch building to keep not only all the equipment in but my grain trailer and road tractor as well. No logical place for bats to roost in it as in no nooks and crannies.

They inhabit the old hip roof barn (timber framed) along with the barn swallows and they keep the bugs in check and I'm good with that. I do store round bales in the old barn but they aren't stored for a long time and of the get any poop on them, it don't seem to be an issue with my customer. Kind of wish they ate ticks as we have a tick issue this year.
 
   / Getting Bats out of the Barn? #10  
Interesting article but in my case, they don't bother me at all. Having said that, Racoons do and are destructive and I have no issue dispatching them on sight.
 

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