Surviving a power outage.... How to...

Date sort Score sort
ThreeBoysChicks

ThreeBoysChicks

Songster
12 Years
Sep 19, 2007
1,915
16
194
Thurmont, MD
After reading several person's stories of losing their hatches to a power outage, lets talk about those who survived a power outage and how you did it....... I have survived 2 so far.

Power Outage #1 - My first hatch (back in January), we had a 6 hour power outage (Winter storm with heavy winds). Fortunately, we have a fire place. We built a nice fire and moved my homemade cooler bator right next to it. I melted the side a little bit, but the temp never went below 85 degrees inside. Had a 50% hatch on shipped eggs. I was pleased.

Power Outage #2 - Back about a month ago, with a bator full of eggs, we received a card from the Power Company saying that they were going to shut our power off for 2 - 4 hours in the middle of the night on a specific day. Having some notice, here is what I did.

- Filled 3 jars with the hotest water I could carry and set them inside the bator.
- Could microwave potatos and put in there, but I did not have any potatos on hand.
- Covered the entire incubator with 2 sleeping bags and a heavy quilt.
- The power ended up being out for 5.5 hours. Temp got down to 92. Had a 60+% hatch on shipped eggs. Again I was pleased.
 
Last edited:
Good ideas. I have not experienced this problem for more than 1 hour. But with reading other peoples posts, I wonder if maybe I should get a car attachment for my genesis.
hmm.png
 
A friend of mine received a notice from the power company that the power would be out for a day. They called and told the power people, and the power people brought them a generator just for their incubator. No problems, all went well.
 
Quote:
Duh! I HAVE a generator! Thanks. I never thought of it. I consider it camping equipment.
hu.gif


LOL Just be sure to keep it in a well ventilated area. No need to suffocate teh babies!
 
We have an invertor for the car - it's a great item to have regardless - saves me from having to buy a car charger for my cell phone - I just keep the inverter in the car and plug my cell phone cord in! So, if we have a power outage - I plan to plug the invertor and incubator into the car and hope the outage isn't so long I drain the battery!
 
Quote:
I do not bother with car attachment.

I have my computer power backup ready to hook my bator in in case of power outage.

Besides today,s car batteries are not designed to withstand a deep discharge, if you drain it too much, your car battery is junk.

If you want serious backup, marine battery is the answer, they are huge, expensive and heavy, but they can run your styrobator for about 30 hrs + and your cabinet incubator for about 6 hrs.
 
If you are going to cover the bator with blankets, etc. make sure they have oxygen!!!! Little or no oxygen can affect the eggs quite a bit!
wink.png
 
Another thing that works if you have a fireplace, woodstove or even a propane torch. Heat up some rocks like basalt or pumice (some that wont explode in fire) get them too hot to hold and use tongs, then and wrap them in towels and place these in the incubator. Liken you would in an sauna. It is something you can practice with a thermometer and an empty incubator before a power outage to get a good idea of the number of stones and size you will need then just keep them. This doesn't solve the problem of the power outage when you are away at work or sleeping soundly. The Hovabator can run off a battery if you get the right plug.

Just some ideas in these times of uncertain powersupplies
 
I was on day 19 when one chick was zipping and all of a sudden we had a power outage! it lasted about one hour, I knew what to do. I covered the bator with sweaters (you can use a blanket too) and the temp. didn't went that down it stood at 92 all the hour! the humidity did raise a little but it wasn't that bad. And when the power came back everything went to normal. We didn't lost any to the outage.
 

Similar threads

A
Have any of you chilled incubating eggs during a power outage?
Replies
4
Views
677
Zenmonkey
Z
A
    • Like
Chicken eggs Day 27 but eggs still wiggling
Replies
7
Views
1K
MROOD
M
A
    • Love
    • Like
24hrs power outage and my last egg to hatch
Replies
2
Views
491
FuzzyDinoNuggets
FuzzyDinoNuggets
PrincessPeach27
    • Like
Power outage
Replies
8
Views
543
gtaus
gtaus
PrincessPeach27
What did I do wrong?
Replies
2
Views
475
Susan Skylark
Susan Skylark

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom