Following is a short summary from a two year study on a new bat house design being used here on the Daniel Boone National Forest in Eastern Kentucky. This area lies within the Cumberland Plateau where 14 species of bats are known. In this study over 40 bat houses were placed in a variety of forest, riparian, and urban habitats.
Boxes receive very little use when placed in pure urban areas.
The low use of bat houses in urban settings may be due to the increased amount of available roosting habitat such as old buildings, barns and houses which have historically provided a variety of excellent roosting habitat. Bat houses in these locations will receive more sunlight. We would also recommend placing bat houses in clusters of three to five per site. We are seeing evidence that colonies of bats using one bat house will move to other bat houses in the cluster. Avoid placing bat houses close to barns, out-buildings and houses.