# Power went out



## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

More of a word to the wise for anyone raising chicks. The power just went out. Luckily, it woke me up immediately. I have to have a fan on to sleep. Unluckily, the chicks are still under the brooder. I have what hot water I could get before the well pump lost pressure, not to mention the electric water tank emptied and have them in a box with two big bottles. They are about three weeks old so hopefully they do okay for this. Worse comes to worse, we should be able to hook a lamp up to the car. I don’t know how well that will work though, it’s a big draw. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this and have some plan in place.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

Power was out for an hour, back on now and the gals are now under their lamp and full of so much energy. If I had been thinking, I would have grabbed a cooler to put the warm water in. The box worked fine for the 45 minutes it was needed but a cooler would have insulated much better and much longer. I should also have some of those instant heat packs on hand.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I'm sorry but I was asleep when you were up frantically trying to keep your peeps warm. I too use a fan, it is also my first indication that the power is out in the middle of the night. 

Not knowing how cold it is at night where you live I can't help a ton. Down here in the south, this time of year it would be OK. Just toss a covering on the brooder, cage, bin, whatever is being used. What gets peeps all fired up usually is the sudden darkness. 

Are you using a regular heat lamp? If you have to resort to using the vehicle, change the bulb for an incandescent and drop it lower. That's the only type bulb I ever used.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

They are in our living room so I wasn’t too worried. (I’m lying, I was totally worried!) but it was 70 in the house. At this age, I really think they would have been fine without extra heat for a while. I agree that the dark is what threw them off! They peeped up a storm. They were quite happy and cozy cuddled together around the hot water bottles in the box though. Mostly just kicking myself for not being ready for something like that. I was pretty snippy with everyone in my family until I got the chicks settled. And then we all sat around in grumpy silence for an hour while my husband looked up generators on the internet. Thrilled with the power company here through. They got the problem fixed really quick.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I got up one morning to find the bulb burned out in the middle of the night. If I remember right mine were younger than yours but all survived fine. 

I've got a generator, I'm glad I have it. Our power was out for 2 and a half days after the storms came through here a couple weeks ago. Anymore, you almost have to have one if you want to save the food in your fridge and freezers. 

Like you, our power company rocks when it comes to getting our power back quickly. One time it was an ice storm, I don't know how they managed but three hours later the power was on again.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

When we lived in both Charleston and Seattle the power would go out all the time from downed trees and storms. Not so often here in Missouri. But like you, we’ve had an ice storm that left us without power for almost a week about ten years ago. After that, I said that when we finally bought a house, we would get a generator. We bought this place about a month ago and I have to say that I’m glad for the little wake up call. This list of things to do here is very long and I had completely forgotten about getting a generator.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's just one of those things that we know is going to happen when we live in the country. We were out for a week when a blizzard hit the N. GA mountains in 93 and a week after Opal hit us in the same area. Luckily we had a creek right in front of the house for toilet flushing and I kept potable water on hand. 

When Michael hit us here in AL power was only out for a day but it was miserable because it was so hot and humid. No more. I have a portable AC unit and the genny. 

Before something big happens now is a good time to go shopping for auxiliary power. I was limited in what I could get this last time because everyone was out buying them.


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## TomC (Apr 9, 2020)

I wish I had a setup like my brother, it came with the house when he bought it. He has a Generac generator that's fueled off his propane tank. It automatically kicks on about 5 seconds after the power goes out. 

Luckily, our power has never been out more than 3 or 4 hours. I've thought several times about getting a portable generator, but always when everyone else is needing them too. So, they're all out of stock or way overpriced. I never think about getting one when I'm not needing it.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

Yes, an automatic propane generator would be my ideal as well! But I don’t know when that will happen. And I also always forget about getting one when I don’t need one. I hate that feeling. I know I should a pretty good emergency supply stash... but I don’t actually focus on taking care of it in small steps so I put it off until I forget about it.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Yeah, if I could afford one of those Generacs that's the way I'd go. As it is, the isolation switch I'm having put in for the genny I have now is going to cost a small fortune. But no power cords all over the house and everything will work except HVAC and hot water. In other words nothing that is 220v. 

I also have a dual fuel but I need to fix the danged thing and I'm just not feeling all excited about tearing into the thing.


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## TomC (Apr 9, 2020)

Yes, they are pricey, around 5 grand, I think. That's just for the generator, doesn't include all the extra wiring, switches, and installation. Hard telling how much all that is.

I can do allot of things, as long as it's external. If it comes to tearing into the internal parts of motors and engines, I let someone else fool with it.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Believe me, I'm not excited about doing this. It's under warranty, they think they know the part that failed but want me to do the testing. It's not like I've never torn something apart and fixed it but I've gotten to an age where I just am not interested anymore.


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## TomC (Apr 9, 2020)

robin416 said:


> It's not like I've never torn something apart and fixed it but I've gotten to an age where I just am not interested anymore.


That's exactly the way I am. Much easier to let someone else do it.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

I had an emergency one time, 3 day old chicks and the light bulb blew out in the night, when I found them in the morning they were unresponsive but still alive, I only had 3 chicks so it was easy to do the following part...I put them under my shirt against my belly skin and tucked them in with my shirt while I drove that way to the store for another bulb lol! I drive a stick shift so the whole ordeal was very tricky but it worked and they lived
Moral of the story, have a spare bulb and think quick!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I found a newly hatched chick under a metal trough feeder once. I mean brand spanking newly hatched. Grabbed it, put in my shirt and high tailed to the house. Got the heating pad out and sat with it until it began to perk up. Then back out to Momma it went.

It is doable to bring them back as Sylie and I have done so don't ever give up too quickly.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

I actually started doing the math of how many chicks each person in the house would have to take and keep under their shirt... I was going to have to take five! Glad I didn’t have to but it is really cool to know it’s been done on a smaller scale and worked! Neat stories!!!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

A gas stove is an option for heating something up to provide heat. I had a gas line installed when we moved in here. Glad I did too. I could still make coffee in the morning when power went out pre generator.


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## Sarah1up (May 1, 2020)

Coffee is one of my biggest concerns when power goes out! It sounds silly but I’d be quite miserable without it!


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Silly? Not from this side of the monitor. If I have to give up everything else that's normal don't take away my coffee. I use whole coffee beans so I even have an old hand grinder. That work out first in the morning will make me wonder for a moment if coffee is even worth the effort.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

I keep a camp stove and bottle of propane at all times, if the power goes out, it's a heat source, light and cooking all in one. You can warm up water to put in a hot water bottle for the chickies in such a case too


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Sarah1up said:


> Coffee is one of my biggest concerns when power goes out! It sounds silly but I'd be quite miserable without it!


Yup, my order for running power off my generator is: incubators, brooders and coffee pot, then refrigerator, freezer, well pump and fuel oil furnace igniter.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

At least you can have heat if the power goes out in Winter. That's not an option with my current generator. 

Does anyone else have something to say about fridge and freezers being at the middle of the list? 

Who needs a brooder when you have Silkies more than willing to hatch and be fosters. That's the way I used to do it once I was established.


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## Sylie (May 4, 2018)

honestly, aside from my animals, I couldn't care less if the power goes out, I'm a roughing it kind of girl, it doesn't bother me one tiny bit. I don't like being cold but there are ways to keep warm without a furnace.  get your mind out of the gutter!


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