Around 10pm Tuesday night we lost power for no apparent reason.  We later learned that 11,000 people were without power due to a bad circuit and the power company had to cut power to an additional 10,000 people, us being 1 of those lucky 10,000, to fix it.  It’s to my understanding that while trying to fix the bad circuit there was a major fire at the substation resulting in 16 hours without power!  This was really bad at first because I have an incubator right in the middle of a hatch with 5 babies in the bator and 10 in the brooder and more eggs still due to hatch.  I sent my husband out to the store to buy an adaptor so I can run power from my car to the bator and brooder.  It took about an hour to restore that much power.  Prior to getting the adaptor, temps dropped to 80 degrees in the bator and 85 in the brooder.  That’s bad news for new chicks and a hatching incubator.  We are fortunate enough to have a gas stove so I heated some water and filled jars with the hot water, then wrapped the jars in aluminum foil to put in the incubator and brooder.  This did help to raise temps in both.

I will not know the extent of the damage unless I crack open the remaining eggs, but happy to report that the chicks seem to be doing great despite how cold they got and how fast.  I even had 2 more chicks hatch early this morning!

If you’re ever in this situation, quickly fill jars with hot water and wrap in foil then place where necessary.  To help contain heat, put a towel over whatever you need to hold heat, in my case the incubator and brooder.  I also recommend having on hand a power adapter for your car.  For around $30 you get a great little gadget that plugs into the cigarette lighter in your car.  You then plug an extension cord into that and plug in whatever you need plugged in.  The one I have is a 100 watt, I was able to plug in my incubator, a heat lamp and even charge my cell phone.  The bad news in using this method, is you have to leave your car running to get power, but it’s well worth it.

I sure hope I never lose power again with eggs in a bator or chicks in a brooder, but if I do, I am now prepared!