Keeping Baby Chicks Warm During A Power Outage

[Below frigid]

Let's make this simple. generator! I live off the grid. Sola, Batteries, inverter, and happen to have 4 generators. Get a small Honda or Yamaha. They come in handy for lots of things.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

I co-sleep with my son after his first night-time feeding. He isn't very cuddly but I have a hard time putting him back in the crib without him waking up. After I lay him down on the mattress, he feels for both me and DH before settling in. I noticed that I am tuned to every movement he makes and I wake up if I need to move.

I've done my research on co-sleeping safely. It works best for me and my son.

Co-slept with the PIC since birth..... he spent maybe a total of 12 hours in a crib... and that is a stretch. But, be forewarned... PIC is now 8.5 and STILL co-sleeps more than we like him to!!! LMAO... but, hard to kick HIM outta the bed when the dogs and cats are allowed to sleep with us...

I was brooding one week old chicks outdoors in a wire pen in the run using Mama Heating Pad. Now, you have to bear in mind that normal "springtime chick season" temperatures around here are still dipping into the teens and twenties, and one year our last snowfall was June 6th. Ken and I went to bed around 10:30. Around 2am he awoke to the sound of the power in the house coming back and and shouted, "The chicks!" By then the winds were howling and we had blinding, sideways blowing snow! I was scared that we'd go out to find "chick-cicles". Nope. They were just fine, all snuggled down in the straw under their heating pad. The straw on top of, under, and packed at the sides of the heating pad cave held enough residual warmth to see them through and they were more upset with us shining a bright flashlight in there than they were by the cold.

I'm glad yours were okay. Next time it happens, a huddle box with a thick towel over it can help, and since most (certainly not all!) power outages are of just a couple of hours duration, with some creative emergency measures things can work out well. For instance, there's usually enough hot water left in even an electric hot water heater to fill a jug, wrap it in a dishtowel or something, and tuck it into a corner of the brooder. They'll find it!

@Blooie , literally the grandmama to ALL my chickies since it was her MHP that brought me to BYC! Good to *see* you! And

 

[Blooie]

@Smuvers Farm : what a nice thing to read! Thank you, and I'm so glad MHP works so well for you. As I've said before, I can't take credit for this method of brooding - there were pioneers using heating pads before I started doing it and I'll always be grateful to them. I just adopted, adapted, and embraced it. And, after a break from BYC, it's nice to be back.

 

[Sexy chicken lady]

My hubby gave me an investor and a battery coupled into an ups so when the power is out it automatically runs off the battery

 

[MageofMist]

i slept all night cuddling a baby goat once. I seem to have a don't move while sleeping mode.

I once fell asleep by accident with some newly hatched quail chicks snuggled up on me, one of which had weak legs and so it needed to be given water via an ink injector on a regular basis... Normally I toss and turn like crazy in my sleep, but when I woke up some hours later, I was in the exact same position, not having moved an inch!

I was so scared at first and quickly counted them, but they were all there, though annoyed with me because I moved and they were all cozy and content in my hoodie's hood against my neck...

 

[Redhead Rae]

Co-slept with the PIC since birth..... he spent maybe a total of 12 hours in a crib... and that is a stretch. But, be forewarned... PIC is now 8.5 and STILL co-sleeps more than we like him to!!! LMAO... but, hard to kick HIM outta the bed when the dogs and cats are allowed to sleep with us...

My Milk Drinker takes a nap in his crib every day (1-3 hours) and he sleeps in it for 1-4 hours every night because I put him in it after I get him to sleep but before I go to bed. When he wakes in the middle of the night for a feeding I just plop him down between me and DH because I don't feel like fighting to get him to stay in the crib or staying awake the extra 10-15 min for him to fall deeply enough asleep for me to move him. I'll have to deal with getting him to sleep in his own bed sometime in the next year or so. We want more kids and our queen sized bed is barely big enough for the 3 of us, never mind a little baby. I don't want to spend a bunch of money on a King sized bed that will accommodate more bodies.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

My Milk Drinker takes a nap in his crib every day (1-3 hours) and he sleeps in it for 1-4 hours every night because I put him in it after I get him to sleep but before I go to bed. When he wakes in the middle of the night for a feeding I just plop him down between me and DH because I don't feel like fighting to get him to stay in the crib or staying awake the extra 10-15 min for him to fall deeply enough asleep for me to move him. I'll have to deal with getting him to sleep in his own bed sometime in the next year or so. We want more kids and our queen sized bed is barely big enough for the 3 of us, never mind a little baby. I don't want to spend a bunch of money on a King sized bed that will accommodate more bodies.

It's worth it though! (Not ONLY a chicken enabler, but a co sleeping enabler too!! )

 

[gimmie birdies]

I just put one or 2 in a towel in a small box, I think I had about 8 eggs. then I put them all back in incubator when power came back on.

 

[gimmie birdies]

One time I was hatching 2 eggs, and the power went out, I think it was only for 4 hrs, it was 2 days before hatch. I took them to bed with me, (sports bra) then put them back in incubator, they hatched on time.