Power Outage!! How to keep my ducklings warm?

[HilaryAkin]

Hi,

Not sure this is considered an emergency, but we have a power outage and my 3.5 week old ducklings are in the heated garage, which, of course, is no longer being heated with a heating lamp that doesn't work now. Suggestions on how to keep them warm???

 

[swamphiker]

If you have a way to heat water, you can give them a hot water bottle to snuggle up to. What's the temperature inside of the garage? At that age, ducklings shouldn't need too much supplementary heat.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

How cold is it without being heated?

I personally would use those rub heat packs and set them on the shavings where they can get away if needed. Depending on how long the power is expected to be out, you can also cuddle or build a fire (if you have a fireplace.). We had to do that for quail chicks one year

 

[indianaducks]

I had that issue with 1 week old ducklings last weekend thanks to a huge storm that knocked out our power for over 12 hours. Depending on what they are in, you could move their brooder to a more interior area. I drug the big plastic tub mine are in, into a closet between the house and hte garage to contain heat a little better. I also keep a hardware cloth top on my brooder when they are really little in case animals get into the garage - so I put a fleece blanket over half of that as well, to try to keep more heat in. I did not cover the entire thing with fleece, so that moisture could escape and they could get air. Mine did just fine.

 

[m0ther_g00se]

I experienced this with ducklings once, but they were much younger than yours (only about a week old). Our hot water heater still worked, so I gave them hot water bottles with a towel around them to keep from burning themselves on it, and put a heavy blanket over the top of the brooder to keep the heat from their bodies and whatever else trapped in there. Depending on the temperature though, you might not need to do all that.