Does anyone have bat houses?

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LOL, you beat me to it

We didn't have bats in our loft til about 2 years ago (at which point some boards started coming loose and I've had other more important things to repair and, you know, so, now we have a buncha bats living up there).

I would like to say I've seen a reduction in mosquito populations during that time. I do keep trying to convince myself. Maybe we have? I think so. Could be. Sometimes it seems like it. I can't prove it

To me the main value of having the bats there is that a) I can tell myself, as I am swatting at mosquitos all summer, 'Man oh man just think how much *worse* it would be if we *didn't* have all those bats!' <g>, and b) we have tarps stretched across much of the loft to catch drips from the ever so leaky roof, and they catch bat guano Real Good too, and once a year I scrape it off the tarps and put it in the compost pile and feel all clever about it <g>. (Yes, I wear a mask).

I am highly skeptical that one lil' bat house is going to put a real dent in any mosquito population big enough to seriously need denting... BUT every little bit helps, as much for the protection of bat populations as for mosquito control, really.

P.S.: If you have bats living near the house that's an extra reason to make sure your animals stay current on their rabies shots. Required public-health procedures are MUCH STRICTER for unvaccinated animals that have encountered a rabid bat than for vaccinated ones -- don't mess around with it, just keep 'em current on their rabies vaccinations.

Chickens, fortunately, cannot get rabies

Pat

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we seem to have had less mosquitoes in the past couple of summers, but I think it's due more to the dry summer than anything else

Does anyone know if chickens can get sick after scratching in or eating bat guano?

I've had pet chickens (my girls) in the back yard for several years. The back yard is also home to a dilapidated pole-mount purple martin house. I would like to replace said bird house with a bat house for up to 300 bats. Before I make the effort to get up to that bird house and assuming I will have bats once I put out the house (I hope!!!), I want to make sure my girls won't get sick from the bat guano. Please help!

We love bats!! Every evening while out feeding and locking up the birds, we count the bats. TOnight was awesome-- some 24 bats!! WHoot. Hard to be accurate of course, but that is the challenge each night. THis is the highest number all summer and for a number of years.

We don't put up bat houses anymore, they fit up under the facia board of the house. Happy to give them space.

When I had my goat dairy there was a bat that flew around the milking parlor during the evening milking. Bugs were attracted to the lights and he took advantage of it. So did the toads. Had to step over a lot of them during milking, too.

nccountrygirl said:

Mine live on the gable end of my house near the woods. How we found this out was My DH and I were painting our house a few yrs. ago and he was doing the high work, when he got ready to start painting the gables one hissed at him and scared him so much he almost fell off the ladder. We have a lot of mosquitoes around here as we are surrounded by woods and have a creek that runs through the back of our property, hey if they keep the mosquito population down they are welcome to stay.

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This sounds like our property but I only saw two bats one night. I'm thinking of these but our coop isn't that high and we don't have a barn.

Funny we had two get in our house when we lived in the city, but I see few here.

We also had a couple get in between the bricks when I worked at the PO and it sure wasn't 15 feet off the ground but there was an overhang. Like the entrance to a cave now that I think about it.


Oh I came here for research.