Heat up water bottles and put them into their brooder. Cover the brooder to keep heat in. The chicks will huddle together. Continue to heat up water.
Thank you, did not think about heat lamps for the babies til the lights flickered this a.m. from the storm. YIKES!
I was thinking the same thing early this morning as the wind was tearing through the valley here. No chicks in the brooder yet, but I had the heat running overnight to see how well it would hold the temp. Thankfully, I have a generator ready to go as well as a battery/inverter that would likely power the heat lamp for several hours at least, although I will need to test it to be sure.
What if you have a well and need electricity to run water? Last year the power went out and I almost lost a chick she was upside down in the water container once I found her I thought she was dead but wasn't so I grabbed all the chicks and huddled them on me with a blanket. To keep them warm.
I lose power all the time during winters (did just a couple days ago) usually for at least an hour, two hours, sometimes over 10 hours and honestly? I just keep them in a warm area. We have a woodstoves, so if possible I keep their brooder (simple cardboard box) nearby for warmth. If not that, then I cover the brooder with blankets, towels, whatever. The chick's body heat should build up in there. Haven't lost a chick yet to any of our power outages, except two one cold winter that were outside. Had a heatlamp in the coop, power went out in the middle of the night, it was 20 degrees out, and two died from suffocation/trampling. Inside the house though, the only thing I worry about is my incubator(s).
