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~Information~

Timber Effects Butterfly Houses:

Timber Effects ButterFly Houses:

Butterflies are attracted easily to backyards by planting a garden with a variety of plants and flowers that nourish both the caterpillar and adult butterfly. Attract them with black-eyed susan, aster, butterfly bush, a butterfly nectar feeder, or other favorite flowers.

The house you mount should mimic a butterfly's natural hiding places, such as rock crevices, wood piles, or loose tree bark. Butterflies may hide in these boxes to escape the cold, a summer storm, or predators. You may attract even more flying beauties by offering a refreshing dish of water. They often prefer wet sand or shallow mud puddles, so a shallow sand-filled dish with a rock edging makes a great sanctuary where your butterflies may drink and bask in the daytime sun.

The Timber Effects Butterfly House is designed to encourage butterflies to remain near your garden.

The Butterfly House should be located in or close to your garden and away from prevailing winds. Hang or mount your Butterfly House three to five feet above ground in a tree or on a pole. It should be in direct or partial sunlight.

Here are some more helpful idea's for attracting Butterflies to your Butterfly House:

1. Fill a small cheese cloth bag with crushed leaves from any/or a blend of the following and place on the inside floor of your Butterfly House:

Dried willow, birch, elm, nettle, and/or thistle leaves. These can be collected easily in many backyards or along roadsides and dried in the sun. The leaves give off an attractive odor to many butterflies.

2. Also place large pieces of bark, collected from fallen trees or old wood piles, in a vertical position inside your butterfly house.

Butterflies will only be attracted to your garden if you have plenty of their favorite nectar producing flowers for feeding and their favorite host plants for egg laying. There are several excellent books about butterfly gardening available at your local nature supply store or garden center.

Your Timber Effects Butterfly House also makes an attractive accent piece in your
home and a perfect gift for that someone who has everything.

Thank you for choosing Timber Effects, have fun.

-Care and Cleaning of Bird Houses-

With just a little maintenance and care, your birdhouses will provide many years of use and satisfaction.

Remove the old nest after the brood
flies and disinfect the housing using a mild bleach and water solution.

Important: Do not peek inside a birdhouse that is in use. This will cause the baby birds to panic and they may jump out. But if this does happen, simply pick them up and place them back inside the birdhouse. Stuff a clean rag into the opening until the birds settle down (this may take up to an hour or so), then remove the rag.

It is just a myth that the mother bird will abandon the brood if she smells a human scent.

-Bat and Bathouse Information -

Sun - Houses where high temperatures in July average 80º F or less, should receive at least 10 hours of sun; more is better. At least six hours of direct daily sun are recommended for all bat houses where daily high temperatures in July average less than 100º F. Full, all-day sun is often successful in all but the hottest climates. To create favorable conditions for maternity colonies in summer, internal bat house temperatures should stay between 80º F and 100º F as long as possible.

Bat Habitat - Most nursery colonies of bats choose roosts within 1/4 mile of water, preferably a stream, river or lake. Greatest bat house success has been achieved in areas of diverse habitat, especially where there is a mixture of varied agricultural use and natural vegetation. Bat houses are most likely to succeed in regions where bats are already attempting to live in buildings.

Mounting your house - Bat houses should be mounted on buildings or poles. Houses mounted on trees or metal siding are seldom used. Wooden, brick, or stone buildings with proper solar exposure are excellent choices, and locations under the eaves often are successful. Single-chamber houses work best when mounted on buildings. Mounting two bat houses back to back on poles is ideal (face one house north, the other south). Place houses 3/4 inch apart and cover both with a galvanized metal roof to protect the center roosting space from rain. All bat houses should be mounted at least 12 feet above ground; 15 to 20 feet is better. Bat houses should not be lit by bright lights.

Predators - Houses mounted on sides of buildings or on metal poles provide the best protection from predators. Metal predator guards may be helpful, especially on wooden poles. Bat houses may be found more quickly if located along forest or water edges where bats tend to fly; however, they should be placed at least 20 to 25 feet from the nearest tree branches, wires or other potential perches for aerial predators.

Uninvited Guests - Wasps can be a problem before bats fully occupy a house. Use of 3/4-inch roosting spaces reduces wasp use. If nests accumulate, they should be removed in late winter or early spring before either wasps or bats return. Open-bottom houses greatly reduce problems with birds, mice, squirrels or parasites, and guano does not accumulate inside.

When to install your Bat house - Bat houses can be installed at any time of the year, but are more likely to be used during their first summer if installed before the bats return in spring. When using bat houses in conjunction with excluding a colony from a building, install the bat houses at least two to six weeks before the actual eviction, if possible.

More Information - Bats vs. Bugs Bats have a bad reputation that they don't deserve. Bats are
rumored to tangle in hair and suck blood, but the truth is that bats have
no interest in human hair, and eat bugs, not blood. As for rabies, bats
were once blamed for the spread of the disease, but in the past 30 years,
only 12-15 cases of human rabies can be traced to bats. Of these cases, not
one was caused by a bat attacking a human, but rather by a human picking up
a sick bat from the ground.

A North American bat consumes over 1,000 mosquitoes, moths and beetles per
night, and is an asset to any yard and garden. The best way to attract bats
is to hang a bathouse. Bats don't move into a bathouse as readily as birds
move into a birdhouse, so be patient. Your patience will eventually be
rewarded with a drastically reduced bug population