Bat houses..... do they work well?

[JD8]

Moved into a new house last year, the backyard is full of trees and we have a koi pond (empty) and pool. We have some friends that have made a home on some hooks up in the ceiling of the porch, given by the droppings. Thinking about a few houses to help with the bloodsuckers. Experiences?

 

[TerryMiller]

From what I've read in various places, the bats are great mosquito hunters. However, I'm not sure just how many "houses" one would need. Maybe check with OSU sources?

 

[Snattlerake]

I made one, just waiting for the tenants to move in.

 

[dennishoddy]

I built a couple according the ODW plans since we had some already swarming our yard light in the evenings.
In three or four years, we never got anything but wasps.
Didn't really understand it then, but since have read that they are very temperature sensitive during the daylight hours.
The bat house has to be tall enough and with enough ventilation to allow them to move up and down with the heat of the day.
It also has to be positioned for the correct amount of sunlight/shade during the day. Sun early, and shade the rest of the day. We did ours wrong having sun in the afternoon.
There is a lot of information out there on the web which didn't exist a lot when putting up our bat houses.

 

[Okie4570]

Imo less used on the eastern side of the state just because there's so many more roost options simply due to more structures and terrain. Out here, where there's not much of anything that's vertical, they get used pretty frequently. I have no idea where the bats come from around my home during the summer but there's quite a few. No idea where they might roost other than a giant old barn down the road.

 

[Snattlerake]

I built a couple according the ODW plans since we had some already swarming our yard light in the evenings.
In three or four years, we never got anything but wasps.
Didn't really understand it then, but since have read that they are very temperature sensitive during the daylight hours.
The bat house has to be tall enough and with enough ventilation to allow them to move up and down with the heat of the day.
It also has to be positioned for the correct amount of sunlight/shade during the day. Sun early, and shade the rest of the day. We did ours wrong having sun in the afternoon.
There is a lot of information out there on the web which didn't exist a lot when putting up our bat houses.

That is bass ackwards from the information I used. They said heat all day and a dark stain or paint it black. I did provide ventilation and used a netting against wasps in the vent areas.

 

[JD8]

This side of the house faces east and would only get direct sunlight from early morning to 9-10am MAYBE until it hits the trees.

 

[Perplexed]

That is bass ackwards from the information I used. They said heat all day and a dark stain or paint it black. I did provide ventilation and used a netting against wasps in the vent areas.

Heat all day is what’s recommended in cooler northern climates. Here in the southern part of the US, a couple hours at most of morning sunlight is suggested. I worked with a fellow who installed dozens of bat houses, and he said even then, it could be a crap shoot whether or not bats will move into a particular house. He did say, the higher, the better - at least 15 feet or so.

 

[GnometownHero]

Funny bat story. Back in the late 90's my band in KC, Shwamprat had a big pair of 18" EV PA bass cabinets and they stored in my barn when not needed.
One evening my drummer wanted to take them home to use them for a side gig. He unloaded them in his living room and went to bed. He awoke to his dogs flipping out because there were 8 fruit bats flying around inside his house.
His wife had a full on coniption fit about it and it took 2 days to finally catch them all

 

[tynyphil]

After seeing 2 or 3 bats soaring around at dusk I decided to encourage them by putting up some houses. I have 2 small commercial ones like those carried at Ace hardware. I then built a rather large one by OWD specs......but in several years now I have not had any tenants that I can tell nor has my population of those soaring at dusk improved. disappointing.