help ... tornadoes... power out

[ginger c.]

My chix are 2-3 weeks old. How cold is way TOO COLD? It got down to 80. They were huddled together, but quietly sleeping.

The water bottles help. But they think it might be days before we get power.

 

[suburbanchickymama]

Ugh. Went through the same thing last week with 6 eggs in the incubator and 14 week old chicks. I happened to have a first aid heat pack thingy that I cracked open and put in a towel and luckily late the same night we were able to find someone to loan us a generator - we have 2 kids under 2 so folks were generous. With tornadoes at least here the outages were really spotty so we had folks with power that volunteered to keep the chicks for us in case it took a few days. Luckily only took right at 24 hrs to get it back. STAY SAFE!!! And good luck!!!

 

[Chickeninthemeadow]

Glad to hear you have a gas water heater, cause that will help loads. My chicks were 3 days old when the power went out for 3 days after tornadoes here in NC. Luckily yours are older. We ran a generator at night to keep them warm, but we didn't get that running for about 24 hours (had to do some quick repair work to it). In the end, we did lose 1 chick. Did it get too cold or was it something else, it's hard to know for sure. I think she got too cold on Saturday night and temperature management became a rollercoaster cause the hubby didn't let me run the generator 24/7 (gas is WAY expensive for us atm). I am thankful for the 11 that made it. We tried the hand warmer things, got them cheap at wal-mart, but I couldn't seem to get them activated.

 

[Mommysongbird]

This may or may not be a good idea, but can you place them in a smaller brooder? That way there won't be as much area to heat and the chicks can still cuddle for warmth if needed!

Just a thought. Hope your power comes on soon. We are in for storms tonight as well, there are tornado warnings everywhere around us.

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

Smaller container that has padding & some sort of insulation at the bottom. Pop bottle or similar filled with warm water & stuffed in a sock sitting right next to the chicks. Cover the bottle and the chicks with a hand towel. They'll be fine. Sending good thoughts - stay safe.

Joni

BTW: There is a product called Snuggle Safe. It is round and about the size of a dinner plate. it is filled with wax when you microwave them they stay warm for about 8 hours. I used them a lot when I used to travel while hand feeding baby parrots. They work great and there are no electrical cords to worry about.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

ginger c. :

My chix are 2-3 weeks old. How cold is way TOO COLD? It got down to 80. They were huddled together, but quietly sleeping.

The water bottles help. But they think it might be days before we get power.

They're perfectly fine at 80 degrees at 2-3 weeks old, that's well within the proper range for that age group. You don't want them any warmer than that really.

If they are cold, they will cheep and you will recognize the unhappiness in their voices, trust me.

 

[ginger c.]

Quote:
They're perfectly fine at 80 degrees at 2-3 weeks old, that's well within the proper range for that age group. You don't want them any warmer than that really.

If they are cold, they will cheep and you will recognize the unhappiness in their voices, trust me.

thanks. I put them in a smaller box. I have pine shavings, then 4 water bottles and more shavings. They are huddled together sleeping on top. It's the quietest and calmest I've ever seen them.

 

[N&MSchroeder]

Yes, we lost power for about 6 hours and I placed their clear, rubbermaid type brooder in front of my gas fireplace. They slept the entire time! How are things going?

 

[bburn]

ginger c. :

Quote:
They're perfectly fine at 80 degrees at 2-3 weeks old, that's well within the proper range for that age group. You don't want them any warmer than that really.

If they are cold, they will cheep and you will recognize the unhappiness in their voices, trust me.

thanks. I put them in a smaller box. I have pine shavings, then 4 water bottles and more shavings. They are huddled together sleeping on top. It's the quietest and calmest I've ever seen them.​

Ginger...what state are you in? I had a three hour power outage the other night. I did the hot water bottle thing....amazing enough the bottles stayed warm the entire time. My chicks will be two weeks old tomorrow so they needed some heat. They were all balled up in the garage brooder when I went out to get them...put them all in a basket and moved them into the small brooder in the bathroom...they never woke up! I had the water bottle in with towels over them in a circle. They slept the entire time. I also had an incubator going and put a hot water bottle on top and covered it with a down jacket and later with a blanket but made sure there was an air hole.

Bless you and I hope you get electricity soon.

 

[chick on a stick]

A tornado hit our town last night. We were without power all night and until about 2:00 pm today. Our chicks are 2 weeks old and were just fine.