Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[BullChick]

Aren’t Red Rangers meat chicks?

 

[OneMountainAcres]

After 5 days without power/running water/heat, we finally got it back late last night.

We had a massive pine tree come down on top of wires between our house and my fiancée's parent's house on Friday afternoon. It wasn't fully down, it was still being held up at a 45 degree angle by the wires. We're on a well, so no running water. Our pellet stove is electric, so no heat. All the stores in our area were sold out of generators and didn't have heaters in stock anymore since "it's spring". My fiancée found someone in Quakertown who was selling a brand new kerosene heater so we drove out to pick that up, so at least we had heat. Our house was so cold the one night I could see my breath.

I reported our outage several times, PPL couldn't make it out, then showed up Monday, realized the wires were still live and how bad the situation was, caution taped off our yard (which we had been walking through to get to parent's - no other way). We had to stress the fact that my fiancée's sister lives there and she's 9 months pregnant and due any day (she gave birth on Tuesday evening to my sweet, healthy godson ) only then did they setup temporary emergency power. We were very worried with the extreme weather reports for yesterday - 8-12"?! Thankfully, we only got about 4". Tree company and power company showed up in a full squad to do amazing work yesterday during the snow. Friends and coworkers offered us their homes for showering, laundry, battery charging and meals. Very thankful for that.

We were so unprepared for this, because whenever we lose power it's usually never for that long. I was so worried alone watching the wind gusts on Friday, worried about a tree falling on the house or the chicken coop that I didn't think to fill the bathtub with water. But now, I have a list of things to get or have ready for next time. Looking into a manual well pump, a generator and solar panels or small solar devices.

Of course our chickens are totally unfazed, with the exception of the scary cold white stuff being back!

Hope everyone is well, warm and safe!

Wow! I'm so glad to hear that you've got everything back on! I can't even imagine being without though if we lost power, we'd be in the same situation. We do have a generator but it's not powerful enough to run the heat and everything else :/ Thankfully, we have a fireplace.

Aren’t Red Rangers meat chicks?

X2

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Aren’t Red Rangers meat chicks?

I thought so too, but she said these were egg layers. Perhaps she had the name wrong, and they are Red Stars or something. I’m certainly not taking the staff’s expertise as correct. No offense, but they just usually don’t have the experience. If they are egg layers, I will load up. If they are meaties, I may take a few too, as I wanted to raise some anyways, and 3-4 weeks is almost halfway there. Especially if I can take a bunch for a “special” price.

 

[chickachickayea]

So sorry to hear you were without! If you ever get stuck again, we are near you and would be glad to help. Sounds like you have a good support system there however.

We were so thankful for the wonderful home we purchased. It came with a propane automatic generator, and a fireplace. So we are covered if something happened and we are out for a little bit. We have since installed a propane stove as well so we could cook also. With the egg making machines in the backyard, we have a constant supply of good food also.

Wow! I'm so glad to hear that you've got everything back on! I can't even imagine being without though if we lost power, we'd be in the same situation. We do have a generator but it's not powerful enough to run the heat and everything else :/ Thankfully, we have a fireplace.

Thank you both We have a fireplace, but have a pellet insert in it so it's pretty much there for good. But now we're aware of how to be ready for the next outage!

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Good news, they were out of Red rangers, and they had some Silkies. Bad news, as I was asking the girl to check the ones that I had picked out, to make sure they had feathered legs and dark skin, only one has both...

I should have checked before I left. Any idea what these three teeny yellow/gray chicks are?

A sloth to cuddle... I have their brooder inside my chick pool brooder, so they can all get acquainted.

@Blarneyeggs When my husband heard the cheeps, he said “They’re really loud!”, thinking it was the older chicks... I said “Yes they are...” with a grin on my face. Then he saw the box and said “How could you?!” But he was smiling, so it’s all good.

 

[fisherlady]

Test to see if I can upload videos (nope, too big, will have to utube )... we had 7 broodies hatch Tues/Wed and added some day old Delawares from TSC so everyone has 3 or 4. Our eggs were crosses ....white rock roo over silver pencil rock hens... Mindy is in chick heaven, lol.

 

[fisherlady]

If you look very, very close at the top picture you can see the chick buried under Mindy's hind leg fluff... it must have been warm and comfy, it stayed there for ages. I finally pulled it and gave it back to the hen so Mindy could move.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

@fisherlady you are the queen of broodies! Even your dog is a reliable broody lol. Always love the pictures you post!

I've got seramas hatching right now, a day early of course. Turkeys and other breeds should catch up tomorrow.

 

[BullChick]

Dukling was a hoot when I remembered that her chicken from Dheltzel had laid (still only found one egg). She cuddled it, and wanted it to hatch. She cracked it, and I taped it up. It’s back in the fridge. Not good for anything anymore, but she can look at it for a few days.

 

[fisherlady]

A few short videos... I tend to keep them under 30sec because they are originally for texting to DH when he's at work...