November 24 and 25, 2012

This weekend, I began to paint my bat houses.  These houses will be home to breeding colonies of mother bats during the summer and they must keep very warm, almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit inside the bat house.  In order to do this, bat houses in cooler climates are painted black to absorb heat from the sun.  Because of higher temperatures due to global warming, it is not always advisable to do this.  However, in Michigan where I'll be hanging my houses, it is still recommended by the OBC that all bat houses are painted black with weather resistant latex paint.  I bought a small can of paint back in September with my dad and this weekend, he showed me how to paint making the least mess possible. We spread plastic sheeting and newspaper over his basement worktable and placed the houses on that.  Then, we painted one side and the back of each house.  Because the paint had to dry overnight,  the next day, Sunday, we flipped them over and painted the front and other side.  Then we put the lid back on the paint and wrapped the brushes in aluminum foil to store in the fridge until next weekend when we will put on the second coat of paint.  The cold of the fridge will keep the paint from drying since water will not evaporate out as quickly.