Lockdown scheduled with storms on the way!! Power Outage advice!!!

[RockerChic13]

Today my chicks are on day 17 of incubation. We have a terrible forecast for the next couple of days. Lockdown tomorrow and possible tornadic activity tomorrow afternoon. Does anyone have any advice on what to do during a power outage or how to prepare for one???? I want prepare for the possibility. I don't wanna lose my babies!!! Any advice would be very appreciated!

 

[HickoryHollow]

Today my chicks are on day 17 of incubation. We have a terrible forecast for the next couple of days. Lockdown tomorrow and possible tornadic activity tomorrow afternoon. Does anyone have any advice on what to do during a power outage or how to prepare for one???? I want prepare for the possibility. I don't wanna lose my babies!!! Any advice would be very appreciated!

I had an outage during my first hatch ever. Luckily I had a generator that I hooked up within about 10 minutes. I spoke with a woman I work with who had a similar thing happen but didn't have a generator. She left her incubator closed and prayed. Her power was only off about an hour, but she said things turned out alright. If it had been longer I don't think they would have made it. Mine was off 6 hours. My best advise would be to get a generator!

 

[red horse ranch]

I also have a generator but one time I had a power outage during a blizzard and the generator was too cold to start. I wrapeed blankets around the incubator being careful to leave the air vents open. The electric was off several hours and the hatch was delayed a day but I did have chicks hatch.
I heard once that someone put the incubator in their car and ran the heater full blast until the electric came back on.
A friend of mine had electric off for 9 hours but still had a hatch. So don't give up on them if it happens.

 

[deputychicken21]

A generator would be best. We went trough a bad winter storm this year and lost power for 12 hours. We were not prepared at all. At the time we had 20 chicks in the barn in a brooder, they were about 7 days old. After the power had been off for an hour I decided to bring them in the house, I had some of those air activated hand warmer things that I put in socks. All the chicks huddled around them and survived. HAVE A BACK UP PLAN!! I know I do now. Good luck

 

[red horse ranch]

A generator would be best. We went trough a bad winter storm this year and lost power for 12 hours. We were not prepared at all. At the time we had 20 chicks in the barn in a brooder, they were about 7 days old. After the power had been off for an hour I decided to bring them in the house, I had some of those air activated hand warmer things that I put in socks. All the chicks huddled around them and survived. HAVE A BACK UP PLAN!! I know I do now. Good luck

The hand warmers are a great idea! I think It would help to put one or two in the incubator if there is room without touching the eggs.

 

[Tazbeaux]

I am currently on day 19 of incubating my very first batch of chicken eggs. On night 3 we had some bad weather roll through and we lost power. I live in a rural area and when the power does fail it is usually off for a while. That night it was off for 5.5 hours, however, I was prepared. I had a fully charged automotive jump starter/power pack and a 220 watt inverter to plug my incubator into. Since my incubator draws just 50 watts, the inverter was more than enough to run it, and the power pack lasted the entire time with energy to spare. I could have even used the lighter socket in the car and ran an extension cord if I hadn't already had the power pack. It was an "egg" saver.

 

[deputychicken21]

Hey
What is that chicken in your profile picture. I have to have one.

 

[Dragons4u]

I use a battery powered UPS meant for computer. It will run the incubator for several hours if the power fails. I don't know how long it will run it because the only time the battery has been used is when my wife tripped a breaker. It was only on the battery for a few minutes to at most an hour until I got home and wondered why my UPS wad alarming out, but it still had battery power when I reset the breaker.

 

[Tazbeaux]

@ deputychicken21

The chicken is a ( non bearded) Cream Brabanter I got the hatching eggs on Ebay, offered by Sunflower Hollow Farm. I think that their non bearded variety are much better looking than the original breed.