Baby Chicks and Power Outages

[rhschulz2000]

I live in Colorado and will be ordering my nine baby chicks in late February or early March, which means we will have plenty of cold weather while they are feathering out. I live in semi-urban area, but our independent rural electric authority does suffer power outages from time-to-time. I was planning on raising the baby chicks in a Rubbermaid 75 gal stock tank, inside the coop I am currently building. I will have electricity in the coop and plan to use the typical heat lamp over the brooder.

Here is my question. We are both retired and are generally home most of the day so would be aware of a power outage. But if we are sleeping at night and the power goes out, by the time we wake up in the morning the chicks could be dead. Is there a device that plugs into your house wall socket that emits an alarm if the power goes out, or are there other options that I have not thought of. Yes, I could raise the chicks in the house/garage which would mean the temperature wouldn't fall as drastically as it would in an out building, but I am trying to avoid doing that.

Any responses would be appreciated.

Bob

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I was going through the posts that didn't get a quick response so I thought I would reply to yours even though i don't have a specific recommendation. I know the battery backup to out computer beeps when it kicks in during a power outage, but you may not really be looking for that. Perhaps you could give a call to Radio Shack or Home Depot electronic section and the staff would have some ideas.

 

[chickenarmy]

Our power went out the other day. If the chicks start to get they will huddle together, make sure that they do.
If you have any thing that runs on batteries that could possibly help use that!
Do you have anything on the ground around them? A little hay or straw would do some good.
But if the chicks start getting cold to the touch take the rubbermaid inside!

Hope you have luck on your side!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Healthy chicks are hardier than people think. If you put something with thermal mass in with them like bricks and the power goes out during the night, that will help.
The more space they have to get away from the heat source the better they can handle a lapse of heat.