Bat Houses

Barn in the Sticks offers a good selection of quality made bat houses approved by the Organization for Bat Conservation and our bat houses are also approved by Bat Conservation International.  Some interesting bat facts:

• More than 1,100 species of bats account for almost a quarter of all mammal species, and most arre highly beneficial.
• Bats play essential roles in keeping populations of night-flying insects in balance, worldwide.
• A single little brown bat can catch more than 1,000 mosquito-sized insects in just one HOUR!
• A colony of 150 big brown bats can protect farmers from up to 33 million rootworms each summer.
• The 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats from Bracken Cave in Texas eat approximately 200 tons of insects nightly!
• In the wild, important agricultural plants-from bananas, breadfruit and mangoes to cashews, dates and figs - rely on bats for pollination and seed dispersal.
• Contrary to popular misconceptions, bats are not blind, do not become entangled in human hair and seldom transmit disease to other animals or humans.
• All mammals can contract rabies; however, even less than 1/2 of 1%of bats that do contract the disease will normally bite only in self-defense.  They pose little threat to people who do not handle them.
• More than 50% of American bat species are endangered or declining sufficiently to warrant special concern.  Losses are occurring at alarming rates worldwide.

So help the bats and help yourself by putting up a bat house today!

The following information can be found on the Bat Conservation International's Website, a valuable resource!

How to Attract Bats to Your Backyard

There are many reasons for wanting bats in your backyard. Whether it’s to benefit from their pollination services, pest control, or you just simply enjoy their nightly displays of aerial acrobatics, consider these three tips for attracting bats to your backyard.

Leave Dead Trees

For many species of bats, dead trees provide the crème de la crème of roosting locations. The narrow, rough space between the bark and the wood provides the ideal space for a bat (or few) to squeeze in nice and tight. If a dead tree does not pose a safety concern, consider leaving it in your yard to provide protected refuge for bats and the insects for they eat.

Dead tree not an option? Give the bats the next best thing – a bat house to mimic the space and habitat that a dead tree would normally provide.

Want to buy a bat house?  Barn in the Sticks is a certified source for Bat Houses!

BCI has learned many lessons during out 10-year Bat House Research Project. But remember, though we have developed best practices based on years of experimentation, please don’t feel you can’t have a bat house if your conditions are not exactly like the ones we suggest.

Here are some tips to get you started....

1. Where should I place my bat house?

Bats prefer roosts mounted on buildings or other large wooden or concrete structures to those mounted on poles or on trees (not recommended). But pole mounts work well in climates that are moderate to hot, without extreme variance between day and night temperatures.

Bat houses should receive at least six hours of daily sun exposure.

2. How many should I install?

If more than one roost is desired, begin by testing a few in different places. You can mount them next to each other on a building, painted or stained different colors, or on poles back-to-back, a light one facing north and a darker one south. Bats are more likely to move into roosts grouped three or more together.

3. How high should the house be?

Best siting is 20’-30’ from the nearest trees and at least 10’ (from the bottom of the roost)—12’-20’ is better—above ground (or above the tallest vegetation beneath the bat house). Locations nearest an area’s largest water sources are the most successful—preferably ¼ mile or less.

Keep Fluffy Indoors

We all love our furry feline friends, but cat attacks are one of the most common causes of bat casualties. Keep your cat indoors at night, especially during the summer months when the mothers are taking care of their young. If you are unable to keep your cat inside all night, bring it in about a half hour before sunset until an hour after sunset – this is when bats are most active. If your cat has found a bat, s/he may have learned where the roost is and will return – which places the entire colony at risk.