I do love the fact that the farm has a variety of wildlife. We love watching the deer wander through and stop for drink by the stream. The rabbits are a bit frisky right now, chasing each other and playing some version of leap frog in the back yard. The birds start chirping early in the morning and have alleviated any need for an alarm clock. It’s a lively place.
A little too lively.
About two weeks ago, I noticed some “clutter” on our front porch. For a moment, I thought maybe it looked like droppings, but it seemed an unlikely place for a rodent, adjacent to our front door. I looked up into the rafters, and there was nothing there – so I swept it away. The next day there was more, and then more.
When my daughter arrived for dinner one night, I showed her our new curiosity. “Bats,” she proclaimed.
BATS! Nesting between the roof of the porch and the exterior (thank goodness) wall of the house. Mind you, they’d have to get through 18 inches of stone to get INTO the house, but still, between the porch roof and the exterior of the house is just too close for comfort.
I used to like sitting on the front porch.
I’ve asked Chris to seal that space with “Great Stuff” or barbed wire or whatever it takes to keep them out of there. He thinks it’s cool that we have bats and is happy to sit on a mosquito free porch. I’d rather have mosquitoes.
We’ve compromised. I’ll get a bat house that we can mount on a tree on some part of the farm that I NEVER visit, and this winter, when the bats are gone – he’ll seal up that space so that they can’t return there.
In the meantime, I’m only sitting on the porch in a hoodie sweatshirt and long pants.
No Rhyme or Reason Farm 
never a dull moment on the farm
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So far as I know they don’t go south. They will hibernate in your porch. Being somewhat endangered you may want to call
the game commission. Perhaps they can advise or catch with a net when they return from th night flight
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Well this is NOT good news. They are squatters on my front porch!
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You’ve always had bats in your belfry. And Chris is right that they are beneficial to have around, they devour insects and also pollinate some types of flowers and fruits.
Bruce is on the right track. The brown bat (the most common bat locally) does not migrate. They might decide to make your farm a year-round residence. Because they are endangered (white-nose syndrome is still spreading), removal of bats (“exclusion”) might be left to a professional. Perhaps they can remove them from your house but not from the property. If Chris erects a bat house FAR FROM THE HOUSE maybe they can be successfully relocated while you seal up the places they had occupied in your home.
Then everybody is happy — you, Chris and the bats!
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Except I’m not happy with this turn of events. Maybe it’s because I do have bats in my belfry, but now I have bats on my porch — and that’s even worse!
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