Bat House

• 1/2 gallon juice carton with screw cap opening
• 1/4 “ x 12” wooden dowel or strong 12 “ twig
• Two small pieces of clay, or two large beads with opening to fit the dowel, or anything else for the ends of the dowel to keep the hanger from sliding off wire hanger without a bottom (the kind that they hang pants on with the cardboard tube removed)
• Glue
• Sand or sifted potting soil
• Chia seed
• Pieces of bark, dried leaves, pressed flowers, anything else organic and flattish, not too heavy.

Take bottom cap off, leaving the small pouring hole open. If it doesn’t look big enough, you can cut it a little wider, but remember that bats are small and like closed in spaces.

Punch hole crosswise through carton, about 2 inches from the bottom. Insert dowel. This is the bat’s hanging rod inside the carton. Bend wire hanger so that ends are about 1/2 inch from each end of the dowel. Twist the hanger around the dowel and put clay on each end of the dowel to keep the wires from sliding off.

Lay flat and paint with glue. Sprinkle with sand. Turn and do other three sides. Start gluing the bark, leaves, etc. on one side. Let dry. Turn and continue this until the carton is complete obscured. You can’t put too much stuff on.

When all is dry, hang upright and pour the potting soil of the whole thing so it goes into the little crevices of the organic matter. Spray with water to moisten and sprinkle the whole thing lightly with chia seeds.

You can spray this gently with water to keep it from drying out and the chia will sprout. You can even put flower seeds in the crevices and see what happens. Hang this outside in a tree and wait for someone to move in.