Major storm coming...

[pride&joy]

I would go and buy one of those UPS like for the Pc’s . That should do the trick for a while?

 

[scarter]

If they are expensive eggs could you go get a generator?

 

[Serrin]

Do you have any of the following?: Hot water bottles? Medium to large glass jars with lids? Large Ziploc bags? Anything that you can put water into and seal it tight?

Besides the hand warmer packets, you can do the following: Since you have a wood cook stove, half of your battle is already won. In preparation, set aside large water jugs of fresh clean water. In some communities, when the power goes out, so does the water. Especially if you are on a private well. So, set aside a fair supply of water first of all. Some for the incubator, and don't forget for yourself as well.

If the power should go out, or you even think a power outage is imminent, start boiling water on the cook stove. When the power goes out, your water will hopefully be ready. Now it's only a matter of filling the hot water bottles, jars or even Ziploc bags. Before the temperatures in the incubator have a chance to drop significantly, you can put a jar or two of the hot water inside. Just be sure not to let them come into direct contact with the eggs.

Another thing to give some thought to is how to keep the temperature up in your incubator without resorting to changing out the jars of water every half hour. For this, gather up all of your thickest bath towels. You can fold your towels in half the long way and drape them over a clothes hanger and hang them near the wood cook stove. or simply drape them over the back of a kitchen chair.

This will keep them nice and warm. When the power goes out, and after you have put the hot water bottles/jars/Ziploc into the bator, then wrap the bator with the nice warm towels that you've kept near the cook stove. This will provide an additional heat source while preserving the temperature to a small degree inside the bator. Just be sure to keep the viewing panel clear so that you can easily monitor the temperature of your incubator.

You can also dry baking a dish of rice in the oven of your cook stove. Bring the temperature of a glass casserole type dish of rice up to about 300F. (NO WATER IN RICE!) Place the dish as far away from the eggs as possible. In the absence of a glass dish, a small aluminium dish will do as well. Glass just holds it's heat much longer than aluminium. But, with the dish of rice, you will need to monitor the temperature very closely. Depending on the size of your bator, and the size of the dish of rice, this might be too much, and you could run the risk of overheating the eggs.

Probably the easiest thing of all that you could do is to bring the bator into the kitchen and set it near the cook stove. Not to close of course. Don't want to cook the poor little darlings! Keep the doors to that room closed off and then crank up the fire in the cook stove. Even keeping the kitchen near 85-90 is going to make the job of keeping the incubator at the right temps just that much easier!

Keep us posted and update when the skies clear up. What day are you on in your incubation? Hopefully nowhere near the end. Best of luck to you. And try to stay warm!

 

[IggiMom]

THANK YOU for all the suggestions.

And they are on day 12, so no, not near lockdown!

I'll stock up on rice! And water--we have our own water supply, though, so not an issue. It is a gravity feed system.

Catherine

 

[LittleFeat]

What about maybe heating up some bricks, or stones....just be careful and don't heat them too much as they can explode. I have this stone that is to use under a casserole that keeps the food hot for hours. You heat it in the oven and put it under the casserole. Don't know why a brick wouldn't do the same.

 

[ranchhand]

Good luck, I have only one caution after all the great responses. Don't block the air vent holes on the incubator if you wrap it- they need the air exchange.

 

[SilkieBaby]

I put 12 eggs in the bator this morning. Like you we are expecting up to an inch of ice then possibly 6+ inches of snow after that. Luckily I have a generator that I can plug the bator in to if the power happens to go out (which it usually does!) Good luck with your eggs and lets hope and pray that we don't get all of this precip that they are call for.

Amy

 

[Quadog]

If the power goes out, could you take them to a friend or relative who might still have power?

 

[The Sheriff]

I have one of those cooler/warmers that are made to plug into the cigarette lighter of your car and run off the battery. We have it right by the back door to put into service if the power goes out. I haven't' had to use it yet so I don't know how well it would work but it should be better than nothing, at least till we run the car batteries dead!

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
Does your power go out easily. Here in Northeast Ohio we are supposed to get sleet rain combo turning into snow with accumilation of 5-8 inches. I live very rural area in an Amish community and I've only had my power, in the 6 yrs I lived here, go out once, which was enough for me it was out for 4 days due to a major ice storm. I dont think the storm is going to be more then a 1/2 a ton of snow. Good Luck though.
Michele