Power Outage...what did you do with your chicks?

[Sparrow]

I live near Kansas City, Kansas and we were hit by a really bad storm last night. Apparrently it had 80 mph hurricane force winds, and one of my worst fears came true...we lost our power and I'm raising 4 day old chicks and the rest of my baby birds as well. Luckily, my house temp didn't dip below 74 degrees before the power came back on a few hours later, but I was woried SICK about my babies! I immediately covered my brooders up with bath towels and kept my bedroom door shut to keep the heat in. I also covered the window with a sheet to keep the draft down.

I figured if it got any colder, or for much longer, I would've put the tiny ones into a small box and covered it, or tucked them into my shirt to keep them warm. Still, I dread losing power because I worry so much about my animals. What do you guys do if you lose power when you are raising chicks?

 

[jimnjay]

If you can still find those hand warmer packages in the sporting goods section of Walmart. Get some and keep them on hand. You can activate them by shaking the substance inside. You can
add a few in your brooder under a bit of bedding. They do a good job keep the babies warm for a time. I took some chicks I sold to a chicken show in February and that is the way I kept them warm during the 3 hour ride. The gal who purchased the babies just put the packages in her crate and off the went with warm babies.

Even if you don't have heat in the house as long as it stays warm around the 70's the babies will snuggle up and will be ok for pretty long. It is when they are outside in brooders that need the light when it is really cold that is of the most concern.

 

[mmajw]

I get the woodstove going and we all cuddle around that.

 

[jgranddoucet]

Power outages and new chicks are a stressful combination! We live up in the mountains in VT and sure enough the first night our new chicks were home we woke up to find we'd lost electricity. As a first time "mama" to chicks I was terrified. We went down to check on them and no one was moving; they were huddled next to each other in the food dish and everything was cold to the touch. We got the woodstove cranking and sure enough everyone had made it! They are all still alive and kicking 10 days later.

We now have a generator.

Julia

 

[Sparrow]

I actually thought about those handwarmers last night, I'm glad to know they would work well. I wanted to pick some up but it was stoming so badly we couldn't leave to get some of them. I will pick some up this weekend before the next round of storms comes in.

We used to have a woodburning stove that would heat the entire first floor of the house...until it was uninstalled in return for a "more aesthetically pleasing" fireplace that doesn't heat much at all.

I wish we still had that thing. I also bought a generator this past winter during an ice storm, and if the power had been out any longer I would've fired that thing up. It's not a huge one, but it would power my heat lamps, and it's somewhat comforting to know that I have the option.

 

[pearsjd]

Our power goes out pretty often here. Just last week we were out. I fill canning jars with hot water(our cooktop uses propane but I have used my grill). I wrapped towels around them and put them in with the baby chicks. In a few minutes, they stopped peeping and fell asleep around the jars. I also put warm jars in my incubator when I was hatching quail. They kept the temp up for hours.

Susan