Just a few days ago I literally posted on a thread about ideas I had in case of a power outage because we haven’t gotten a generator yet (it is on the list we are “preppers” lol, we already invested a ton, the quail are actually part of it) anyway of course adult quail would be fine but babies and eggs in incubators not so much.
So what happens today? I’m in the shower - no storms in sight - three loud bangs three power flickers and then I’m showering in the dark...
Not sure what caused it but I finished in the shower and got out, I had been working on my computer I have a deadline, so that was out, and I was most concerned for the eggs.
So what we did was first we filled water bottles with hot water, rolled them in a rag, placed 4 in the brooder (I have 54 chicks, and 38 of them are 3-4 days old) and I placed handfuls of babies on the rolled bottles so they would know “hey it’s warm up here” (by the time I got out of the shower they were peeping their heads off in the dark lol) then I covered the brooder with a few towels and left a place for air.
Temp was around 98-100 in the cuddle spot and some chose to sleep outside of the mass cuddle so they were fine. No one died no one over heated all was well.
I knew the eggs could hold their temp a little while so then I moved my Janoel 12 (glad I was not using the larger one right now) which only has a few eggs in it - ordered a dozen California Valley and 7 are alive (honestly I didn’t have much faith in them but I’ll be quite happy with a 50% HR on these being shipped and all plus 2 came cracked) ok so I was using the Janoel but I imagine this will work with any incubator that is waterproof on the bottom... which I assume most are in order to hold water for humidity.
It also needs to be small enough to fit in a bath tub or large brooder tub...
You should fill the tub a bit with hot water as hot as you can because you are heating from the outside, unless your water isn’t super hot, mine is not.
If you don’t have super super hot water use a grill and boil a pot of water. Put it in the tub. Light some nice candles for ambience, and close the door to keep all the heat in the bathroom.
Keep checking your temps. Mine fell to 90, I was able to get it back to 96 it fluctuated between 91-96 for an hour. I had to add more boiling water. I also added hot water to the bottom inside which I later had to drain some out. - yes it raises the humidity way too high, but I was trying to keep them alive.
I called the power company as it had been over an hour and I was getting ticked off since my husband drove down the street and other streets lights were coming back on.
I told her I needed to know about the power I had animals relying on heat and expensive eggs in the incubator (they were not THAT expensive but they were not cheap to have shipped and all that) she actually seemed concerned and she called over to dispatch - my lights came on.
THEY FORGOT!!! They forgot to flip this street on! We were sitting here for 45 mins past the time when the other areas starting getting theirs back... ugh...
So make sure you call to report an outage and call back if it’s been too long.
Ok so plugged back in, lights are on, chicks are happy again, let the incubator warm back up to normal, waited a little while, candled all the eggs, and yes! All 7 I expected to be moving around were still alive!!! So at least we made it through the first power outage that we had the incubator going for... lol
Hope that helps anyone who may lose power during this summer or any other time. Just thought I would share. Also the warm water bottles for the chicks were just basic bottles - we get the big cases of bottle water we do not use tap, hardly ever, so just empty some of those or keep some on hand, the chicks seemed to love sleeping on the warm towel over the bottles. Just make sure they don’t roll over a chick... lol that’s one reason I added the towels to keep them steady and safe.
Take care all. Happy quailing!
So what happens today? I’m in the shower - no storms in sight - three loud bangs three power flickers and then I’m showering in the dark...
Not sure what caused it but I finished in the shower and got out, I had been working on my computer I have a deadline, so that was out, and I was most concerned for the eggs.
So what we did was first we filled water bottles with hot water, rolled them in a rag, placed 4 in the brooder (I have 54 chicks, and 38 of them are 3-4 days old) and I placed handfuls of babies on the rolled bottles so they would know “hey it’s warm up here” (by the time I got out of the shower they were peeping their heads off in the dark lol) then I covered the brooder with a few towels and left a place for air.
Temp was around 98-100 in the cuddle spot and some chose to sleep outside of the mass cuddle so they were fine. No one died no one over heated all was well.
I knew the eggs could hold their temp a little while so then I moved my Janoel 12 (glad I was not using the larger one right now) which only has a few eggs in it - ordered a dozen California Valley and 7 are alive (honestly I didn’t have much faith in them but I’ll be quite happy with a 50% HR on these being shipped and all plus 2 came cracked) ok so I was using the Janoel but I imagine this will work with any incubator that is waterproof on the bottom... which I assume most are in order to hold water for humidity.
It also needs to be small enough to fit in a bath tub or large brooder tub...
You should fill the tub a bit with hot water as hot as you can because you are heating from the outside, unless your water isn’t super hot, mine is not.
If you don’t have super super hot water use a grill and boil a pot of water. Put it in the tub. Light some nice candles for ambience, and close the door to keep all the heat in the bathroom.
Keep checking your temps. Mine fell to 90, I was able to get it back to 96 it fluctuated between 91-96 for an hour. I had to add more boiling water. I also added hot water to the bottom inside which I later had to drain some out. - yes it raises the humidity way too high, but I was trying to keep them alive.
I called the power company as it had been over an hour and I was getting ticked off since my husband drove down the street and other streets lights were coming back on.
I told her I needed to know about the power I had animals relying on heat and expensive eggs in the incubator (they were not THAT expensive but they were not cheap to have shipped and all that) she actually seemed concerned and she called over to dispatch - my lights came on.
THEY FORGOT!!! They forgot to flip this street on! We were sitting here for 45 mins past the time when the other areas starting getting theirs back... ugh...
So make sure you call to report an outage and call back if it’s been too long.
Ok so plugged back in, lights are on, chicks are happy again, let the incubator warm back up to normal, waited a little while, candled all the eggs, and yes! All 7 I expected to be moving around were still alive!!! So at least we made it through the first power outage that we had the incubator going for... lol
Hope that helps anyone who may lose power during this summer or any other time. Just thought I would share. Also the warm water bottles for the chicks were just basic bottles - we get the big cases of bottle water we do not use tap, hardly ever, so just empty some of those or keep some on hand, the chicks seemed to love sleeping on the warm towel over the bottles. Just make sure they don’t roll over a chick... lol that’s one reason I added the towels to keep them steady and safe.
Take care all. Happy quailing!
