Looker Songbird Essentials Organization for Bat Conservation (OBC) Single Chamber Bat House

I got this and recently installed it on a 20 ft pressure-treated 4x6 post, so no bats yet - and not expected yet. I'm not sure about the quality, but the design is sound. The back is a piece of plywood. Maybe I missed it somewhere, but I see no mention of if this piece of plywood is weather-proof plywood, or just plain-jane exterior grade plywood. Here in the northwest it's got to be weather-proof to hold up, so I treated it with cedar-tinted wolmanizer endcut treatment, as well as the top, edges, and front of the cedar parts. The inside I left alone. Since this is intended to be mounted on a post, I'm confused as to why they pre-drilled holes in the top corners, which are useless. I had planned to remove the front panels and screw through the middle into my post, but upon removing the screws found that it was actually glued together. That's good, but the screws are also pointless then. Some of the screws on mine were not flushly installed (they were left proud by someone in a hurry, or a non-woodworker-type). I fixed that easily.Because my original installation plan wasn't going to work, I cut a separate piece of plywood 13.5" x 13.5" and screwed that to my post. Then I screwed through the back of my new mounting plate into the back of the bat house with deck screws the correct lengths (1.25" and 3" depending on location). FYI - I did all this on the ground, then stood my post up into a 3-ft deep post-hole and concreted it into place. I mounted the bat house high on my mounting plate so the final height is 18' above grade.All in all I'm happy with it with my own modifications, but I think it is a bit too pricey for what you get. I will try to remember to update this when bats appear. We have lots of bats here, so hopefully it will not be too long. I would like them to stop roosting on my chimney and pooping on my deck!!! NEW HOME BATS!

History: I used to have many bats flying in the area. Over the last 30 years the numbers have dropped dramatically. Now, I have but one bat that shows up to the gable vent at my house. I read about the subject and found that the numbers are dangerously low. And when one considers that one bat at night can eat multiple thousands of mosquitoes, mosquitoes that transmit diseases, I felt I had to do something. read about bats and their importance from numerous sites on the web, and decided to purchase a bat house manufactured by a bat organization that contributes funds to help preserve bats... our furry flying friends.Construction: This item is designed by "bat people" who have worked with the critters for many years and understand their modes of existence. The houses are constructed of sturdy thick cedar plywood to help prevent rotting. Bats also need something to cling on to, and to climb into the house. This is provided by grid matting on the front and inside the house. The bats need circulation. This is provided by a small slit in the front that allows for air to enter where the bat can move to if feeling too warm. The house has verticality to allow the bats to move up to get warmer and down to allow them to get cooler. There is a very small opening at the bottom of the house; enough to let bats in but keep other predators out.Pricing:I, originally, was going to build the house myself, and would have enjoyed it, but the cost to build it from parts I purchased, was not much of a savings, and besides, the bat organization will use the purchase price to help other injured bats. The Organization for Bat Conservation builds this one.Additions: I live in the NE and with little exposure to the sun. Bats love warm environments. To help the house get at a warmer temperature earlier in the day, I coated the top 6 inches with tar paper, hoping that the sun will warm this area, leaving the bottom area cooler where the bats can go if they need to get cooled down.I just installed the house on a tree at a height of about 10 feet. I will amend this review if bats show up to nest.

First tip ... if you are like me and don't know a lot about bat houses and how to get them up on a pole than this might help you out. In order to get this up high I used the top rail made for a chainlink fence and drove one end into the ground and slid a second section with the bat house attached into that. U bolts for the pipe mount sized to the tubing.So far this is working except that it sways in the wind a bit. After installing it this way I asked someone else what they used and they suggested thick walled electrical conduit and a 4 screw coupler (2 per side) to create a sturdy mounting solution. One of these days I will be upgrading to that unless so bats find their way into the house first.I like this bat house a lot since it came fully assembled and all I had to do was stain it and mount it to a pole. That being said I was not able to stain the inside which is recommended by the bat conservation people and it was a pain in the butt to stain over the mesh area. My solution was to stick a putty knife under the mesh once it was all dry to break it free from the wood backing. Maybe it would still work stuck to the wood but I feel better with it free.Over all very happy with it. Stiller early to tell if the bats will find it but I do know we have bats in the area. Fingers are crossed and if they dont fill it up soon I'm pretty sure its my fault for how I set it up and not the bat house's fault.

I bought this when we had to evict bats from our attic. The pest control guy said it is a really good house, and the bats should eventually find it. So far, there is no evidence that they have, but we'll see when they return next year. That's the only reason I didn't give 5 stars, I don't know if the bats will actually use it. It is very well constructed and comes with a hole in the top - we just nailed it to a tree close to the house. It's hard to believe that 100 bats will fit in it, but now that I've seen them in my attic, you can believe it ! Please help the bats - since they've been around, we have far fewer mosquitoes and scorpions and the guano is great for the garden !!

Good Quality