Power crisis!! OH NO!!

[PurpleChicken]

Here are my suggestions for power outages:

1-Everyone should own a generator. Even a $500 one from Home Depot
will cover your fridge, keep your pipes from freezing, run your well pump,
and keep your bators going. You have to maintain these, especially drain
ALL THE GAS after you use it.

2-A battery backup you can get for $50 from Staples can get you through
short term power failures. The way to use these for a bator is not to just
leave them on as they only last 20 minutes. What you do is turn them off
until the bator drops to 90, turn them back on to bring up the temp, then
back off again. Using this method you can get a few hours of bator power.

3-A 400Watt inverter for your car plugs into your cigarette lighter and takes
12volts from the car and turns it into 120Volts. All you do is plug an
extention cord into it and run it to your bator. Start up your car every hour
or so (depending on car battery age and temp) to charge battery.
You can get one of these for $40 anywhere.

Any of the above three methods provide power but the quality is poor.
Some bators won't like the power but it will work. JUST WATCH TEMPS.


Most of us have propane grills. These are a great source of heat energy.
Heat up rocks on the grill and transfer them into the bator. Poor a little
water on the rocks to produce humidity and help transfer heat to the inside
of the bator. Don't heat them up to much. Styrofoam melt easily.
Again this is a balancing act but it can save eggs, not to mention cook your
food, boil water. Always keep extra propane on hand.

There are plenty of other things you can do also. This time of year those
chemical handwarmers are all on clearance at the stores. A few of those
in the bator can help a lot. I've never tried it but it seems it would work.


I'm in the standby power industry. If anyone ever has any questions about
generators please feel free to PM me or call me. It would be my pleasure
to help any of my friends here.

 

[Blisschick]

Thanks everyone, for your encouragement.

PC, I actually did think about the battery back-up last night. DH uses these at his shop and sells them, and I thought that could be an answer. I just mentioned it to him, and he started to say that it wouldn't work until I told him what you said, then he just grunted. I'm assuming in "guy-speak" that means he agrees with your assement.

BUT...he just told me he doesn't have a $50 dollar device for me to run my incubator off of. Chicken eggs are not high on his priority list.

We also have a generator, but firing it up for the incubator is out of the question. We'd need another hurricane and him dying in the heat before I could convince him to use it for that. At that point here, I probably wouldn't need the generator -- I could hatch them myself!

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Stacey,

On the battery backup (UPS) issue. Most people, even those who know them,
would say they won't work. If they are left on when power fails, even if nothing
is plugged into them, they will go dead quick. You would have to ration the power
by turning them on and off for short periods of time.

Since your DH doesn't seem concerned with the eggs then get yourself a $40 inverter
at any auto parts store or Wallmart. Plug it into you cig lighter, run the cord, and
it will carry the bator indefinately. Just run your car for 5 minutes every hour to
keep the battery charged (this will vary of course. If you crank your car and it sounds
like it's turning over slowly or laboring then run it for 10 minutes to charge).


One other option is a "power center". Many companies are making a jump starter
pack with a built-in inverter.

See http://cgi.ebay.com/Xantrex-XPower-Powerpack-150-NO-RESERVE-Battery-NICE_W0QQitemZ190196904353QQihZ009QQcategoryZ79816QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


I run my laptop, cordless drill chargers, even halogen lights all off a 400 watt invertor
I have plugged into my van. It runs 24/7.


You know your hubby may be just busting them on you by not carring about the
chickens. I play the same game with my wifes rabbits. "Let the things freeze" &
"Let's eat them". I hope she never catches me holding them or feeding them treats.

 

[Blisschick]

You know your hubby may be just busting them on you by not carring about the
chickens. I play the same game with my wifes rabbits. "Let the things freeze" &
"Let's eat them". I hope she never catches me holding them or feeding them treats.

This I'm pretty sure of.

"They'll scramble. There's plenty more where those came from!"

I"ll look into the power inverter.​

 

[Blisschick]

I just candled, and for those that I could see in, all were moving. Whew! Some had what looked to be some kind of blood rings that tried to form, but have lots of movement. Guess I'll find out March 1 how they do.

 

[countryboy]

bliss 5:30 is the shift change for the squirrels in the power generation line.

and you thought you were getting coal powered electricity,
i've seen them run back into the woods after shift change.

 

[seagullplayer]

I got on here is ask about the same thing, we lost power for about six hours today!

I know the bator got down to about 70.

They are only about six day in right now.

I'll try to candle later in the week.

 

[Poison Ivy]

Heartland as one for $29 I've ordered from them before they are pretty good.

http://www.heartlandamerica.com/bro...014&GUID=33D7FAF0-1EB7-4A8C-A6C5-B004D4A6C5DB

 

[Blisschick]

Quote:
I can't really blame the squirrels yesterday. We had some bad weather come through, but funny thing, we've had worse and the lights never go out. We have Sam Houston Electric Co-op out here (SHECO). Sometime the lights go out for no apparent reason. We call it SHECO magic.

 

[Blisschick]

I candled them all last night, and so far, it looks like they all made it! I can't see through the blue shells, but none of them smell, and all look to have healthy vessels. They're due to hatch on March 1.