Wednesday, March 30, 2011

New Housing Addition

Back in January, I bought this nice little, 2-chambered cedar bathouse on eBay. Now that I'm laid off for a few months, getting this bat house added to my backyard wildlife habitat was at the top of my "to do" list. Last week I bought a little can of water-based black paint and got the bat house painted. (Black keeps the house extra warm if the bats ever do move in and choose to use this house as a nursery colony.) See - 2 chambers! With nice rough wood that will make it easier for the bats to climb inside.

Instead of putting up a new pole, I decided to mount this bat house on the south-facing side of the tall bird-perching pole in the backyard. This pole is at the edge of my wildflower garden.
Yes, we still have a few snowbanks left in the yard!



Here I am attaching the bat house to the pole. I did it early this morning because the ground was still frozen and my ladder feet wouldn't sink into the mud yet.

New housing addition completed! Optimal mounting height is between 10-15 feet off the ground. I think it's probably around 11-12 feet high, but this is as high as I could achieve and still heed the "do not stand on or above this step" warning on my ladder.

I've never seen an abundance of bats in the backyard, but I'm hoping they might find this house and decide to take up residence. I'll keep you posted on whether any bats decide to move in. Does anyone have any ideas on how to attract them?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

You could've gotten MUCH higher if you'd put a kitchen chair on top of the ladder and then a 5-gallon bucket on the chair!!! LOL

Kelly said...

Cool....I want to add a bat house to our yard too, but I keep forgetting to pick one up. Maybe this will help remind me!

barefoot gardener said...

hehe... in my world, the only reason to buy a bat house it to give the bats an option that is NOT my attic! ;) sorry, no idea how to attract them. Maybe import a lot of bugs for them to eat?

Oh, and I am so jealous about the lack of snow! I still have FEET of the stuff covering my yard!!!

RuthieJ said...

Hi Sissy,
I wondered if you'd notice that! I was thinking about putting a 5-gallon bucket on top of the ladder just to see if you'd have anything to say about it.....

Hi Kelly,
I've been thinking about it for a while too and Nina Harfmann mentioned that she'd gotten her house a while back and that reminded me to get mine ready for this spring too. Now it's your turn!

Hi Sara,
Thankfully I've never had any bats in the house here, but remember how terrifying it was when we were little kids and one got in.
Hope your snow melts soon! I'm sure you're as ready for spring as I am!

Gaelyn said...

Bats are the Best natural bug control and wonderful to watch. No idea how to attract them. Hope you get new neighbors.

Ruth said...

I see them swooping around at dusk occasionally but have never considered attracting them. I will be interested to see how things go. We still have lots of snow on the ground! :-(

Mollie said...

I convinced some friends who have a place near Viroqua, WI to put up some bathouses. They had bats living in parts of their log house--outside parts I believe! Hope they do they trick. Bats are so good to have around and they are under attack by some weird fungus/something, so good for you to support them! I LOVE your tall bird perch. Where did you get it from? Glad most of your snow is gone. We only had snow here in San Diego yesterday, April 1st. Very strange. ;-)

stephen said...

I'm not certain how to attract bats, but, with such a cozy accommodations, I suspect they'll find their way there.

KGMom said...

I love bats!
And I am so happy you put up a house for them.

RuthieJ said...

I hope so too Gaelyn!

I'll keep you posted Ruth (hope your snow is finally gone!)

Hi Mollie,
I hope it works for your friends too. I'm glad you were able to convince them to try bat houses.
The perch pole is something I put together many years ago before I had trees in the backyard. It's 2 4X4 treated posts with 2 bolts in the center. I can take one of the bolts out and drop the top half of the post down. The birds still perch on it even though my trees have gotten big (finally!)

I sure hope so Stephen!

Thanks Donna. I hope the bats will feel the love and move in to their new house.

Pet Guilt said...

If I could export all of the mosquitoes that we're sure to get, I'd do it for you in a heartbeat! :-) I love sitting outside on our patio in the spring/summer/fall evenings and watching (and hearing!) the bats in our neighborhood. We just don't have a good spot for a house for them.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Danielle,
I bought a little mosquito repelling device at Cabela's a couple weeks ago. The salesperson claimed it was extremely effective. He said it would work in the backyard if we were sitting by the fire or on the deck. If it works, I'll let you know so you can invest in one too.

Dawn Fine said...

Good luck...I hope you get some bats. I am going to show this post to my brother in law..he has a bat house but no bats. maybe he needs to paint it black.