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Found this interesting article here. I was thinking of building a bat house and so I've been considering a way to collect the guano. Does anyone have an opinion on it? I was thinking next season I'll be doing my own composting and I figured composting the guano in with it would be a great idea. Since I've read so many good things about it I was thinking why not? Such an inexpensive project for such a great return if I can capture it. I was almost thinking just building a rectangular box a few feet below it would do the job. But I have no experience with this besides looking at a few bat house designs.
One of the best sites for bat info and house designs is Univ. of Florida http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extension/wildlife_info/wildlife_uf/bathouse.php
They have an extensive research program dedicated to bats and even very cool viewing stations as well as tours and events. I bet you will find some great info.
We had a bat house about 40' in a tree. The bats loved it and it finally met with disaster due to the weather. Sadly we can't climb trees anymore to replace it. However, we managed to establish a colony, they fly over head every night in huge flocks. Occasionally we find them dead on the deck where they flew into the windows. They are such amazing creatures. I have never collected guano though. I have seen large piles of it at the bat house at U of F though. Also in the 70's there was a bat house on Sugarloaf Key, it was a huge tourist attraction. Not sure if it is still there or not but you might goggle that too.
I know what you mean. You would think it is a no brainer for the benefits they offer. But despite that so many people are under-educated about bats and actually fear them. So ironic , last night on the Georgia Public Broadcast they were studying the decline of bats due to white nose fungus Very sad. You might be able to google it. There was some good basic bat info. It was only a 1 hour show.
The brown bats are the ones suffering from the white nose fungus. i need to see if I can find a link to the show. It was really very interesting with some awesome close ups of the face and mouth. Very cool little creatures
This is actually considered to be a big bat house, but I want to make sure I collect as much as they deposit. So I ran out of sunlight and pretty much the rest I have to do is pretty basic. I'm gonna check with a few people if it's been building enough to allow bats to live in, or if I need to stagger the inner boards so they choose to fill the entire box. My box should be able to hold up to 1000 bats presuming at max capacity but I'd be okay with ½ to be honest.
Here ya go. Regarding the landing board, I cut something like 1/4" deep trenches from side to side at 1/2" apart all the way up the board till the entrance. I staggered the boards as well and provided similar trenches for them to grab onto. I'm somewhat undecided if I want to frame the outside of the box, the reason I am undecided is because the box already weighs quite a bit and I'm gonna need a few buddies to lift it up to set the post + concrete. Also I need to stain the outside thoroughly cause this California sun will roast about anything in a season. If I didn't mention it, the roof has a 15 degree slope for rain (we don't get snow).
First thing that crossed my mind is what precautions need to be taken when collecting the guano? What, if any, pathogens can transfer to you while doing this? How will the rain not wash out the collection tray?
Then I kept thinking about this while surfing the net. You want to mix it in with compost right? Why not just put the compost pile under the bat house so when it the rain washes off the landing pad the guano just washes into the compost?
That's actually a pretty good idea. I'm kinda wondering though if the heat from the compost could bother them? I mean it's like 12 feet from the ground, but the compost idea seems most intelligent. But at the same time the question comes into place, when is the compost finished with fresh guano? Only thing I can think of is moving the compost pile and starting a new one, and letting almost finished compost cook a bit longer? Although I live in California and not only that but the Central Valley get's little to no rain during the summer and we average 14 inches of rain a year while the median for the US is 37 inches.
So I'm hoping in which case it would just drop in the box
I'm also googling and I can't seem to find issues with handling the guano, now I was just gonna catch it in a tote or something and wasn't worried about it too much.
I would think that the compost heat would have dissipated after the 8 or so feet. When I turn my pile at times I have plooms of steam exiting it (when fresh cut grass is added) but the sides are not hot to the touch, just the center. If you plan on an industrial style system where you are actively heating it that is a different matter though.
Another thing to worry about is protecting the structural 4x4 from the microbial action of the compost. Is there some type of galvanized tube you could put over the post after both ends are anchored as your's are?
Well, the pole itself is treated so it shouldn't have any issues? I could build a basic fence around it? It's at the back of my yard, so having a compost pile there wouldn't hurt anything.
Anyone else have a good idea protecting my 4x4x16 post for my bat house from the compost microbes?
Regarding the guano, I asked this question:
"So I've had a few questions raised in regards to collecting the bat Guano for composting, and I'm wondering if there is any precaution I should take before handling it. I built a bat house and just got it stood up today, and set it up in a location where I can toss a rubbermaid tub underneath it so I can catch the guano. I wasn't really worried about the handling part, but can't hurt to be cautious.
Someone also made the recommendation to start a compost pile below the bat house so Guano would naturally fall into the compost pile... I thought it was a great idea any thoughts?"
**This was the answer I got in response**:
"Re: Question about Guano
Postby William Bagwell » Sun Mar 25, 2012 6:55 pm
Fresh guano is no different than any other manure. Use gloves and wash well after handling it. Obviously don't be checking if the bats have a calcium deficiency :wink: Old bat or bird droppings that have accumulated in piles for several years can grow a fungus called histoplasmosis. Nasty stuff! You should Google it..."
That tree is gonna get a nice cut soon, it's an English Walnut I think, and it loves to grow into our power lines, so it needs to be cut soon (which is why I was okay with that location). This house should be able to hold around 500, so it should accumulate enough to compost. Besides compost they can eat between 600-1000 mosquitoes an hour, so double duty!
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