I'm full of questions today! I need help on solving a situation...

[Baby_Chick]

So on May 10th I have to go out of my state and I can't leave my chicks home alone. They are a week old as of today. The trip is 4 1/2 hours long by car so I have no idea what to do about the whole heat lamp situation. There are no power outlets in our car, and I don't want to leave them with a chicksitter but I will if that is my only option. So does anybody have any advice on how I could take them with me?

 

[cobrien]

Tough situation. I would opt for the chick sitter if I could, maybe someone who is home enough to check on them throughout the day, or at least 4 or so times a day. But I am on the paranoid side, maybe that's just me! Also be careful of leaving them at someone's house if they have pets or small children.

If you do have to take them with you, for heat I would use water bottles filled with 100F water, wrap the water bottle in a towel. Take thermos' of hot water and add fresh hotter water every hour to keep them warm. My main concern would be them being jostled around, and also them getting wet - you will have to have water in there, how can you keep it from getting sloshed around?

Good luck

 

[xtremevermonter]

You could buy an inverter that plugs into your cigarette lighter and produces ac power so that you could run a lamp. Make sure that the inverter is rated for the watts your lamp will require(and maybe size it up a little)

 

[cobrien]

Forgot to mention - make sure the water bottles don't take up the whole box, so that they can move away from it when it is fresh, it will cool off over the course of an hour, the goal is to have it be ideal chicky temperature (90F or so by may 10, right?) after sitting there for 1 hour.

 

[Baby_Chick]

Quote:
No, it's not just you, I am very protective of my chickens.

My whole family is going with me (we're seeing other family members) so I could have our landlord watch the chicks (they have had chicks before) but that would be just awkward to ask...

 

[Baby_Chick]

And how would I keep the other water hot for 4 1/2 hours???

 

[xtremevermonter]

You could use your car engine to heat a thermos....there are websites dedicated to cooking with car engines that could help you out...

 

[Baby_Chick]

Yeah, I think I will Google it later tonight... Right now I think I am going to have myself a piece of Devil's Food cake with homemade frosting... YUMMY!

 

[Baby_Chick]

Yeah, after thinking about it our car is about 15 years old and has issues as is so I'm not too sure that would be a good idea... Now i'm back to square 1... Ugh! I'm running out of time!

 

[Tala]

As for providing water on the road - teach your chicks to use a rabbit bottle with the ball stopper thingy. It leaks a little, but doesn't spill all over them.

I provided both the usual water dish and the rabbit bottle, they opted for the rabbit bottle. It's like "recreational drinking" they all have to try it out. If one starts pecking at it, they all try it and it take them a whole 10 minutes to get the hang of it. Then if one starts drinking they all run over for a sip - so I feel that they get well hydrated this way.
After you are sure they all can use it (they have like 5 days to figure it out, right) you won't have to keep the open water dish in the car.

As for heat, they will be almost 2 weeks old by then, right? What state are you in/what kind of outdoor temps are you looking at?? Running the heater and just keeping the car pretty warm will help. You might be able to put the heat on the floor and put the box down there under it, then crack the windows and circulate some air higher up for the humans.
Water is really good for a heat sink. I would try the water bottles instead of a lamp. Also how many chicks? They can huddle together and conserve heat pretty well and using a mostly enclosed box can hold the heat of the water bottles and small bodies in.