[sidepasser]

Hi,

Well being the soft hearted person I am, I allowed a single bat to live in the barn during the spring. That single bat now has a husband or wife and they have six children between them and probably more coming along soon.

I need to relocate them, but don't know how. I don't want to kill them as they are great bug catchers and really are quiet and peaceful little critters, except that my feed room now smells awful due to their enormous elimination factor, even though I remove their guano and put down lime, it still stinks.

So they gotta go, I counted tonight and I have 8 little bats in a row hanging from my rafter. They don't bother anyone and don't come into the house, but enough is enough, at this rate, I'll have a hundred soon!

Suggestions for capturing and removal? If moved, would they survive? I have no clue about bats except that they kinda look like mice with wings and eat a lot of bugs, every night they fly around my yard light and catch bugs, but it is getting wintertime. do they hibernate? Would a zoo like them? I am truly at a loss as to how to kindly remove them from the premises.

Thanks
Sidepasser

 

[Kathy in MD]

http://www.batcon.org/

Hey sidepasser,try this link
I know they hibernate during the winter. I doubt if a zoo would like them. I doubt they will breed anymore this year. Good luck.....

 

[insanity]

Wait untill night time while there out looking for a meal.And screen over the holes.
I like the little guys to, as long as they dont dive bomb me!

 

[southerngurl]

Hey, you should be proud to have guano! Expensive stuff.

 

[sidepasser]

Hi,

I sent off an email to the group as what they propose as far as exclusion netting would be almost impossible to do given the size of the openings that are available and the fact that I have to bring horses in and out. I ask them about a repellent spray so hope they will respond quickly as I would like to have them gone before hibernation time.

They don't bother me being bats, just the smell bothers me and with 20 acres of woods that have tons of old rotten tree trunks, you'd think they would rather roost there instead, but nooooo, they have to set up housekeeping in the barn. I leave lots of dead trees in the woods so the owls and woodpeckers and other animals will have homes - we have a two big hoot owls (really they are huge!! about 2 feet tall that hang out in the dead tree in the cemetary) and I was so hoping they would have some little owls, but didn't see any this year.

Maybe this group will provide some help - it seems that relocating them doesn't work as they can find their way back.

Thanks for your help - next year I'll have some bat houses around so maybe they will set up housekeeping in one of them instead.

Sidepasser

 

[sidepasser]

I would have to put up netting over every stall window (4 ft x 4 ft) and over the aisleway door (10 feet wide x 14 feet tall) as well as net the washrack drain hole. I'd have to buy a whole lot of netting to do all that and it would make bringing in the horses an "exciting" experience, especially the tb filly who finds everything rather "exciting" since it's fall now and the wind is blowing alot.

But if that is the only way to get them out, I'll have to go to tractor supply or somewhere and see if I can find some netting - these guys are tiny though, the biggest one can't be more than 4 inches long from snout to rear end and the little ones are somewhere around 2 to 3 inches long.

I don't want to kill them as they are such great bug catchers and Southerngirl, you are welcome to be the new guano removal expert (ha!) - I sure am tired of having to put down feed sacks over the shavings bag pallet and the chicken bin pallet every day! They are roosting right above that pallet and boy is it messy every day. Wasn't too bad when there was just one bat, but now..8 is a bit much!

Thanks
Sidepasser aka the bat lady

 

[landlord]

I would try a quick fix of hanging a piece of panty hose with some mothballs in it where they sleep. They love pine trees at my home.

 

[insanity]

Hey i think i may have had a brain storm! How bright is your lighting? Might give them a little more light than they like dureing the day.A couple of 500watt holagen drop lights pointed up at the roof should do it.

LMAO off over the filly and the wind blowing.My mom has one of those!

 

[gobug]

Where are you located?

First of all, most bats only have one baby each year, so they didn't multiply much. The rest of the family just moved in. The mom gives birth in the early spring and stays with the baby until mid-July.

If you live where it gets cold, they will be moving soon. Some hiberate and some migrate. But they won't stay in the barn unless you have bugs flying around all winter. This would give you time to modify the barn.

The fact that they are living in your barn complicates any effort to get them out and keep them out, as you know. While moth balls do have some repellent effect, the barn environment complicates this approach. Having enough to keep the bats out would definitely be unhealthy for your horses.

It doesn't sound like you really understand the netting approach, at least from your description. Give me some phyical detail of the barn: square feet, height, lofts, windows, doors? and I'll try to give you some suggestions. It may be easier than you think. I also can get you some netting that may be lots cheaper than you imagine.

Do not consider handling the bats. The rabies risk is just not worth it. There are no poisons labeled for use against bats. Bat houses have limited success at best, with few exceptions.

 

[fellini123]

What about hanging some garlic up around the barn????
Ok back to lurking mode!!! LOL
Alice in Virginia

 

[sidepasser]

Where are you located?

First of all, most bats only have one baby each year, so they didn't multiply much. The rest of the family just moved in. The mom gives birth in the early spring and stays with the baby until mid-July.

If you live where it gets cold, they will be moving soon. Some hiberate and some migrate. But they won't stay in the barn unless you have bugs flying around all winter. This would give you time to modify the barn.

The fact that they are living in your barn complicates any effort to get them out and keep them out, as you know. While moth balls do have some repellent effect, the barn environment complicates this approach. Having enough to keep the bats out would definitely be unhealthy for your horses.

It doesn't sound like you really understand the netting approach, at least from your description. Give me some phyical detail of the barn: square feet, height, lofts, windows, doors? and I'll try to give you some suggestions. It may be easier than you think. I also can get you some netting that may be lots cheaper than you imagine.

Do not consider handling the bats. The rabies risk is just not worth it. There are no poisons labeled for use against bats. Bat houses have limited success at best, with few exceptions.

The barn is 40 feet wide x 80 feet long of which approximately 40 feet wide x 40 feet long is the barn part and the rest is my house. The house is sealed off from the barn with the exception of the whole house fan over the door going to the barn. I put fine metal mesh over the whole house fan to keep the little guys from coming through there. Openings to the barn are: aisleway door which is 10 feet wide x 14 feet tall. Three stall windows that are 4 feet wide x 4 feet long. The washrack has a drainage opening at the floor that is about 6" inches high x 10" inches long. When you walk into the barn, there are three stalls on the left, each with it's window, and on the right is the washrack, then a huge feedroom/storage area that has a screen door, and the wall is 10 feet high with a two foot high knee wall above it that is 20 feet long of open space. That's 2 feet by 20 feet of opening into the feed room. The rest of the wall beside the door running towards the house is 6 feet tall and is open up to the top of the knee wall. I used to use this room for stallions so he had a nice big window on the aisleway that had stallion 'bars" across it. He could see all the activity but not stick his head out into the aisleway. So there is a lot of open space to "net". Each stall has a 4 foot x 4 foot window facing the aisleway as well. Down here in the south we want lots of air flow as it gets so hot from April through end of September. There is no door on the end of the barn that I can close.

I think it would be very hard to net the aisleway entrance at ten feet x 14 feet and bringing the horses in and out would be a real chore as I would have to remove it or move it up somehow to get them in and out.

Sidepasser

 

[sidepasser]

my filly grows at least 4 inches when the wind is blowing - i think it's cause she's walking on her tiptoes :haha:

I could just see her around a bunch of netting that was blowing around in the wind!! Her eyes would probably pop right out of her head!! I know her nostrils would get big as dinner plates and she'd literally float across the ground. Thoroughbreds can be so silly sometimes! The mule would probably just refuse to come any closer than 10 feet until she was absolutely sure that this net wasn't some sort of mule eating spider web! She makes this huffing, blowing sound when something scares her and her ears go straight up and she will just freeze until she figures out what the mule eater is.

The belgian who hates being in the barn anyway is the only real sane one in the bunch, she'd ignore it all and look for a way in to eat and then a way out as soon as possible!

As far as the bats go, they all just ignore the flying around, guess they are used to them by now.

Sidepasser

 

[stickinthemud]

Sounds like screening the bats out won't work, so just make the place unpleasant for bats. They like dark, quiet places. So add lots of light, maybe paint the roost area bright white (fresh paint ought to be a turn-off), add a fan to stir up the air in their hidey hole, keep a radio playing, hang ribbons (fly paper?-tho I wouldn't want to actually catch the little buggers) or netting or string in their roost area, maybe smelly potpourri bags hanging in their roost area, just stuff to annoy them into leaving.
Course, you need to check for other dark, quiet places they might want to move INTO. Are your bathroom vents well screened?
CW

 

[gobug]

From what I read, you must be far enough south that the bats could be permanent residents.

I'm guessing, but it sounds like the wall on the feedroom side is 10 feet high and the wall on the window side is at least 14 feet high. I'm guessing the windows are high enough for the horses to stick their heads out, do they have shutters? How high is the opening on the end with no door? It also sounds like there is no upper level.

The first step is to start work on closing the edge where the roof line meets the walls. A bat can skinny through a quarter inch crack, so it must be tight. This can be a thin layer of siding, but there can be no gap. Fill the gap with rope caulk or anything you can wedge in and fasten.

Have you watched the bats come and go? This is important. This is the place to put the bat house,unless it is through the opening with no door. The only place the netting may be needed could be this door opening. If this is the case, I would suggest a rolling curtain, like a bamboo curtain that rolls up when you pull the cord. It could be anything, including the netting, as long as the openings are relatively small.

Tell me about the 14 foot high door. It may need a lip so there is no gap at the top.

The whole strategy is to close the entry points, not to net around the areas inside. You also could put a ceiling on the barn, but it is so large that it would be expensive and laborious. The ceiling material could be netting, but if the entry point is along the edge, they will still roost inside. You also could cover just the roof areas where you do not want them to roost.

 

[Deborah Stephenson]

Sidepasser,

Before you do anything, please go to this link and read thoroughly.

http://www.batworld.org/main/main.html

This site is run by an organization headed up by one of the most expert people in the world on the subject of bats - Amanda Lollar. (She has forgotten more about bats than most other people ever knew!) If you call her she can either talk you through what to do, or tell you where to get local help. There is a list on that site of people who live in different areas of the country who can come to your place and safely remove the bats. These people are all volunteers who have training (and more importantly - rabies shots) and know how to deal with these little guys.

Whatever you do, DO NOT attempt to handle the bats. Most bats do not have rabies, but they are vectors for rabies and you can not tell just by looking at them. If one bites you and you have not had a shot, the bat will have to be tested by your local dept. of health. Rabies can also be transferred by saliva or other body fluids, so it is better to avoid contact.

 

[gobug]

Thats a good link from deborah, sidepasser. There's a lot of good information and drawings that will help you.

None of the advice I gave contradicted that on the web site.

Certainly, if you can talk to someone and they can come to your home it would be worth the effort. Maybe they will have some suggestions for the barn areas that are not addressed in the site.