Imagine this, you wake up in the middle of the night and the power is out. You get up, set up the emergency lights in the house, call the power company, and go back to bed. But something is nagging you. *GASP* You have newly hatched chicks drying in the incubator and you have no power to keep them warm. You go check on the chicks and they are very damp. With the high humidity in the incubator and the lowering temperature, the moisture in the air precipitated out of the air and on to your chicks. They are cold, damp and you have no idea when the power is coming back. What do you do?
This exact scenario happened to me last night. With this emergency chick brooder, the chicks were warm, dry, and fluffy when I checked on them in the morning.
Since we frequently experience power outages in my area, I always make sure to have one thing on hand. Thermacare HeatWraps. They are an air activated, one time use heat pack that does not require electricity to work.
You can use different brands, styles and designs of air activated heat packs. I like getting the ones that are for the low back or hip. Those tend to have two things going for them. 1) They usually come with a waist strap that works well for wrapping around a box. 2) They are mostly flat and cover a larger area. Hand/foot warmers could still work, but they are usually small and sack like in shape. It would be harder to rig them into a cave configuration that you want for your chicks.
Another thing to be concerned about is how hot the heat pack gets. Before using a new brand or type of heat pack you need to test how warm it gets after completely activating before relying on them in an emergency. If they are too hot for you to hold, it is too hot for the chicks. If it barely feels warm to the touch, it isn't warm enough. When it is fully heated up, it should be a similar temp to the underside of a heater plate, around 110 - 125 degrees F.
Note: Make sure you get AIR-ACTIVATED heat packs. There are some heat packs that rely on contact with skin to get the exothermal (heat producing) reaction going. Those can cause chemical burns, you do not want to use those.
The next step is to find a box or bin that is 1 inch or so higher than the backs of your chicks and at least twice the surface area as your heat pack. The extra surface area allows you to place food and water as well as giving the chicks a place to retreat from the heat. The bin/box shouldn't be too much wider than the heat pack (the actual heat pack area, not the belt) or the pack could droop down too far into the box/bin. I also line the box/bin with paper towels for traction and absorbency.
I then wrap the heat pack around the box allowing it to dip a little in the middle so it just touches the chicks' backs.
This provides a nice cave for the chicks to hide in and get warm.
After you place the chicks in the temporary brooder, you can place a towel over top (at night to hold in heat) or a screen to hold them in.
If your chicks are older and already in a brooder you can do a modification of this emergency heat source. You can take a box/bin that is only just the size of the heat pack and cut down one wall so you have a box with a floor and 3 walls. Line it with paper towels, put the heat pack around the box and place it inside the brooder. You may have to train your chicks to the box (shoving them under the heat) but they will learn. This works better if the chicks have been brooded with a heating plate or MHP (mama heating pad) so they know to huddle under a heat source. It may not work very well for chicks that have been brooded under a lamp.
If you use a heater plate, you can resort to taping the heat packs to heating plate or wrapping them around the heating plate. I've done this a couple of times. However, you need to be careful how to attach the heat pack to the plate or your chicks may get entangled in the heat wrap/tape or trapped between the heating plate and wrap. Also, I don't know if, once the power comes back on, putting another heat source on the heat wrap will cause the chemical reaction in the heat wrap to do weird things.
This exact scenario happened to me last night. With this emergency chick brooder, the chicks were warm, dry, and fluffy when I checked on them in the morning.
Since we frequently experience power outages in my area, I always make sure to have one thing on hand. Thermacare HeatWraps. They are an air activated, one time use heat pack that does not require electricity to work.
You can use different brands, styles and designs of air activated heat packs. I like getting the ones that are for the low back or hip. Those tend to have two things going for them. 1) They usually come with a waist strap that works well for wrapping around a box. 2) They are mostly flat and cover a larger area. Hand/foot warmers could still work, but they are usually small and sack like in shape. It would be harder to rig them into a cave configuration that you want for your chicks.
Another thing to be concerned about is how hot the heat pack gets. Before using a new brand or type of heat pack you need to test how warm it gets after completely activating before relying on them in an emergency. If they are too hot for you to hold, it is too hot for the chicks. If it barely feels warm to the touch, it isn't warm enough. When it is fully heated up, it should be a similar temp to the underside of a heater plate, around 110 - 125 degrees F.
Note: Make sure you get AIR-ACTIVATED heat packs. There are some heat packs that rely on contact with skin to get the exothermal (heat producing) reaction going. Those can cause chemical burns, you do not want to use those.
The next step is to find a box or bin that is 1 inch or so higher than the backs of your chicks and at least twice the surface area as your heat pack. The extra surface area allows you to place food and water as well as giving the chicks a place to retreat from the heat. The bin/box shouldn't be too much wider than the heat pack (the actual heat pack area, not the belt) or the pack could droop down too far into the box/bin. I also line the box/bin with paper towels for traction and absorbency.
I then wrap the heat pack around the box allowing it to dip a little in the middle so it just touches the chicks' backs.
This provides a nice cave for the chicks to hide in and get warm.
After you place the chicks in the temporary brooder, you can place a towel over top (at night to hold in heat) or a screen to hold them in.
If your chicks are older and already in a brooder you can do a modification of this emergency heat source. You can take a box/bin that is only just the size of the heat pack and cut down one wall so you have a box with a floor and 3 walls. Line it with paper towels, put the heat pack around the box and place it inside the brooder. You may have to train your chicks to the box (shoving them under the heat) but they will learn. This works better if the chicks have been brooded with a heating plate or MHP (mama heating pad) so they know to huddle under a heat source. It may not work very well for chicks that have been brooded under a lamp.
If you use a heater plate, you can resort to taping the heat packs to heating plate or wrapping them around the heating plate. I've done this a couple of times. However, you need to be careful how to attach the heat pack to the plate or your chicks may get entangled in the heat wrap/tape or trapped between the heating plate and wrap. Also, I don't know if, once the power comes back on, putting another heat source on the heat wrap will cause the chemical reaction in the heat wrap to do weird things.
