***Bators Off For 3 Days...They're all gone**

[Fudgie]

Quote:
Good idea on the battery backup! Never would have thougth of that one

 

[UrbanMama]

You guys are all so wonderful. Thank you all so very, very much. The babies I lost were button quail, buff orps, black australorps and EE's.

Looking back now, there were things I could have tried. (Like the hot water in a jar, towels in the dryer (thanks Jenny!) etc.) At the time, I was so worried about keeping my kids and chicks warm...I just never thought of it. I'm hoping set up a chest of chicken related things for emergencies, so next time I can be more prepared. (Medicines, bandages, antiseptics etc.) I plan to be more prepared in several areas!

We do have the generator now, so if ever have an outage like this one again, the bators will be one of the first things plugged in. (Though I have some silkie chicks that I hope to use as the ultimate bators!)

In some ways, we are actually lucky. There are several people in the area still w/out power. We went to the supermarket today and I was so surprised by the devestation in some areas. It looked like a hurricane had hit!

 

[chickalator]

i know this sounds illy, but when rich people used to breed fighitng cocks, they forced there servants to lay with the eggs till they hatched. just maybe.....

 

[flamingauburnmustang]

Quote:
LOL. Yeah, you could try that.

I'm very sorry about your loss urbanmamma...it must have been terrible...

At least you have the silkies.

 

[Dandelion007]

Winter can suck.

 

[Puff of Fluff]

Sorry to hear of your lose.

Do you have any ostrich feather dusters? If so, they are the best MaMa Hens when the real thing is not available. When I decided to get back into chickens two years ago, I discovered this method by accident, when we lost power and also I keep my home at 60 during night. I had my chicks (usually 20-25) to a cardboard box with several inches of wood shaving for bedding. I then hang the duster from the side of the box, close to a corner to create better covered area (to create more like a real hen on nest effect. I wanted well adjusted

, more natural

), with the tips of the duster feathers resting down on the bottom. At night I cover the box with a heavy folded towel to help trap heat in. The fist MaMa Hen I made, I used a large paperclip bent around the base of duster and bent the clip and stuck one end into the cardboard to hold the duster up. The chicks nestle into the feathers and it traps their body heat keeping all of them warm. I don't use any other type of heat, as the chicks stay more then warm enough. Sometimes they will come out to cool off. And at other times it is outrageous to see bunches of little legs sticking out from under the MaMa Hen, as they lay down, totally stretched out enjoying the warmth and relaxing. Like on a warm sunny day outside when they stretch out in the sun. I used this method on several batches of chicks and it also worked great on my 10 bronze turkeys. That was the first year I did not lose a single chick or turkey out of 63 birds. I also put the MaMa Hen in the play pen yard I created for them during the day (in my living room, it was way too cold outside for them for about 10 weeks), so they had someplace to go if they felt cool or frightened. Works great and I plan on using it this year when I get enough eggs to try in my incubator I bought last fall. My girls laid so heavy last winter, even without artificial light, and through the summer that I am giving them (and me) this winter off. Hope you don't lose any more and that your power stays on for the children.

 

[joebryant]

Quote:
What a STUPENDOUS idea! Will you please take some pictures of the "mother hen" and make a seperate post about this technique. I'm sure many, many readers are going to miss in this post.

 

[UrbanMama]

Thanks guys. I finally set the eggs that I had in waiting...they are almost a week older now though, so I'm not expecting the best hatch ever.

I love the feather duster idea. Very neat!

 

[Solsken Farm]

Oh gosh, I am so sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We only lost our power for a few hours. I took the incubator and put it near our woodstove. It went from 100 to 85 within a few hours and I was so worried. One hatched this morning and there were more pips. I know how lucky we are.

I am glad you got power back as it is horrible without it!!!!!!!!!!! Esp in the cold.

for you and your family and those poor chicks.

At least you have heat for the holidays! Some folks may not!