I was wondering, because now that it is approaching winter, there will be more power outages for those people breeding now, and I would also like to know just incase you get a power cut any time. How do you keep babies that you are hand raising (for any reason, mother a bully or cause you want to hand raise) warm when there is no power? Especially overnight and over long periods of time (storms).

It would be good to know and be prepared.

Thats a very good question. I do a lot of handrearing and as yet I havent had this problem. I dont think there is much you can do really, except maybe some hot water bottles unless you have a generator!!

Anyone else got any good ideas???

I would think maybe if the weather starts looking like their might be a power cut, fill up a few thermos flasks with hot water so that you can make up hot water bottles if you need to over an extended period of time. Other than that... I really don't know. I suppose your own body heat would be better than nothing if you were taken by surprise by a long power cut.

I would personally get a small generator to just power the incubator, they are fairly inexpensive and if they are a bit costly I am sure it would be worth it if you are breeding.

Couldn't you put them in a small carboard box (with airholes) and put that inside a larger box and put insulation in between the boxes, something like tissue and then put that box inside another box and repeat. Then you could sleep with them in your bed, and not crush them. Would this be enough to keep them warm? Because hot water isn't much of an option if you don't have power.

what tempature to the eggs need to be consistantly kept at for the chicks not to die? How long can they go without being kept at that tempature. I can't imagine insulation a box and putting them by you at night would keep them evenly warm enough. Just thinking outloud. I still think a small generator is best, I bet you can find a cheap on on ebay.

How old are the babies beore they are able to main tain their own body heat? How long do you need to keep them in an incubator?

Here is a couple good articles to read through

http://www.exoticpetvet.net/avian/incubation.html

and on the bottom of this article is recommended reading materials

 

General Article: http://www.voren.com/94-05-03.htm

I found this cool as heat pad that you can put into the microwave for 6 minutes and it provides the heat of a water bottle for 12 hours. I haven't bought it, but I might. However a microwave doesn't work in a power cut.

What if you got a bag of rice or wheat and you heated that up (dry with out water) on a gas stove. Then put that heated rice in a bag of soft material. I think that this would retain heat quite well. I will have to find out. What do you think?