What WOULD you do?

[CowgirlPenny]

If your power went out right now. How would you keep chicks warm? Many of us are still having chilly/cold nights. My power just went out for less than 5 seconds but in that instant after I picked my heart up out of the floor (it was DARK in here! lol) I immediately thought about the chicks. The wind is blowing really hard and with all these trees on our road I wouldn't put it out of mind that a tree would fall in a line. Thankfully, never happened yet.

What would be your plan since its the middle of the night? I have three sleeping kids so I could not just up and leave to go stay with someone else, plus everyone is way too far away. Candles?

 

[caspernc]

WELL......You could get some of those heat patch things and kind of wrap some just close to your brood. I have thought about this same thing....and i have some of those things and just hope for the best. My chicks are three weeks old on tuesday and I'll just hope for NO snow storm in march!

 

[ADozenGirlz]

It has happened to me SEVERAL times! Here is a thread of mine in which I documented the drama of my power outtage.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=323669

One of my chicks was in the middle of pipping when my power went out in that thread! The chicks ultimately hatched. They were no worse for the wear.

You're smart to have a plan.

 

[ADozenGirlz]

BTW: My neighbor, who has a generator (and is a good back-up IF THEY are HOME!) always jokes when I have eggs in the bator that we're going to lose power because 75% of the time, WE HAVE!

 

[horsekeeper]

I had this issue with a parrot several years ago and I put my big soup pot on top of the kerosene heater to heat up a pot of water, wrapped it in a big towel and put it next to his cage with a blanket over the whole thing. It was like a big hot water bottle and kept him from getting sick. If you have some way to heat water it might work. Have also heard of putting a gallon jug of hot water in rabbit cages if they need some warmth.

The power was out for a couple of days and that kerosene heater kept everyone warm and full of soup and tea

.

 

[darkbyrd]

I guess, in the moment, I'd keep them warm myself, with my own body heat. Then hope the power came back on, or I didn't roll over!

On second thought, maybe I'd just move them next to the wood stove and hope for the best

 

[redhen]

I'd use my body heat... not much else you can do.

ETA..or yeah... if you have a wood stove..that would work too!

Thats how my gram kept her baby chicks warm back in the day...in a box by the wood stove..

 

[Lawnman127]

I would put 4 or 5 hand warmers ib bottom add extra pine shavings and shape it like a
big nest. then pray power comes on before warmers run out, or go get more warmers.

 

[debid]

I'd bring them in the house by the fireplace with the rest of us.

OH, and waaaaaay back when, DH's father slept in a boot box by the fireplace because he was a tiny preemie. Low tech works in a pinch.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
Maybe toss a few more logs into the woodstove, fire up the kerosene lanterns and the Coleman camp lantern if I wanted really bright light. Cook on either the Coleman campstove, the Propane BBQ, the Charcoal BBQ, or just continue to use the cast iron dutch oven on top of the woodstove (A 70's model airtight made out of boilerplate). I do have one of those single burner backpack stoves and use that with a old-fashion style stainless steel percolator to make coffee----I still think fresh ground beans in a percolator makes the best coffee. (and yes, I can hand grind the beans with a manual grinder)
When I first moved out into a Rural area, it was common in winter storms to lose power for up to two weeks. Seriously Folks: Modern lifestyles has you overly dependent on infrastructure. Convenience is fine, but you gotta have backup. Back when the big hoodoo was being made about Y2K, I laughed, I already had years earlier planted my orchard, garden, and gotten chickens. Now, I do have a couple deep freezers, one for meat and one for garden/store stuff and they will hold for a few days without power if needed, but the portable generator I have can be fired up to run an extension cord in if I have too. I use my generator to power my wire welder for build/repair projects.
So------my Advice: Plan for the worse, hope for the best, have a backup plan to your backup plan. When all about you are losing their heads, you are sitting back snug as a bug in a rug sipping your coffee as the storm rages outside.