Are you prepare for a power outage??

[birdie]

What do you have in place to keep your birds warm should you lose power?
We have a generator that will power our entire house, and lots of gas cans for backup.
Before we got the generator I use to keep a supply of hand warmers nearby. I had sewn pockets to safley hang them from the outside of the cage so the bird could cuddle up against them fpr warmth and not get to the warmer itself to ingest it.
we can get pretty cold, and ice and snow can be frequent. This year we have been hit with lots of ice, but have managed to keep power.

[Gracie's Mommy]

We sure do :D We seem to get a few power outages every year. But thankfully we have a wood burning stove in the main part of our house. So no one will freeze. And as far as light goes we have candles ( for emergencies) and we also bring home our battery operated lantern from our camper. And of course there is always lots of food in the house, and freezer for us, and our birdies. We also keep approx 10 gallons of distilled H2O in the house for my reef tank. We can drink it if we get thirsty lol.

[Evelyn]

Brenda -

Frankly, I never thought about it. Thank you for bringing it up.

We don't have a generator or a wood stove. We do have two fireplaces, but take out as much warm air as they generate.

I suppose I would haul the dogs, cats and birds to a motel and try to sneak them all in.

Are whole house generators very expensive? What brand do you have? Have you ever had to use it?

Evelyn

[Birdlover]

We dont have too much of a concern here in southern CA as far as the cold goes, but we have lost power plenty of times. We have a 10,000 watt generator that can run the necessities. We also have fluorescent lanterns for light... they do a very nice job and are easier to deal with than a flashlight. Of course fuel (for the generator) and batteries (for the lantern) are always updated.

Are wood burning stoves, fireplaces, etc safe for birds?

[birdie]

Brenda -

Frankly, I never thought about it. Thank you for bringing it up.

We don't have a generator or a wood stove. We do have two fireplaces, but take out as much warm air as they generate.

I suppose I would haul the dogs, cats and birds to a motel and try to sneak them all in.

Are whole house generators very expensive? What brand do you have? Have you ever had to use it?

Evelyn
I think we paid close to $2000 for ours. There are smaller ones you can get that you could just plug a drop cord into and use one of the Delongi oil filled radiators on. Those are much cheaper. As for the brand, I'm clueless on that.
We have used the generator once when we lost power about 3 years ago for 8 hours. It was worth every penny we spent for those 8 hours!!

[iti hoa's mom]

Wood burning are ok as long as well venitlated. Make sure there is routine cleaning of the chimney.

Not a problem here in tx. Some things to do is stay as much to one room. If you have gas, do some slow cooking of food through the night and let the stove warm things up.

Blanket ove the top of the cage helps trap heat. With heat rising birds will stay warmer because they like to perch higher.

For light emergencies try the no battery flashlights which you crank up. Light lasts about 20 minutes then start again with just a few cranks of the handle.

Peggy

[lcarle]

At the beginning of December the coast of Washington and Oregon went through hurricane winds for 24 hours. Many people were without power for many days, my birds and I included. We went without power for 5 days without any other heat source. Someone from Macaw Talk forum suggested putting shredded paper on the bottom of the cage. The fourth day my TAG, Jardine, and Military Macaw escaped to a friends house. My toos would have gone the next day, but we finally received power. Bebe-MM- became too misrable and cold and the others were easy to move. I was also getting cranky. Thanks for the other advice. Laura

[birdie]

Laura~ :welcome: Nice to see you here!
I had read your posts about the outage and wondered how you were doing.
Have you given more thought to moving where Coleman has his job? I thought I remembered you saying you were talking about the possibility.
Glad to hear your flock is doing well, keep us updated on the conure. We’ll need pics if you get the little guyJ

[lcarle]

Thanks Brenda. Was invited over by Jill D. and thought I would try. My concern is life will get busy again once vacation is over and I will not be able to post as much again.

Yes we are doing well thanks. Not sure if I will move over with Coleman or not. We are watching to see how his job turns out first. One step at a time. Part of me wants to take in the sun, Chewy, parts of me does not. We still need to discuss the matter and I need to call my friend and learn more.

Thanks again. Laura

[birdscomefirst]

Hi and Welcome,

Also being a resident of the Pacific Northwest:-) We were in the path of that same storm and fortunately did not lose power.

That is unusual as we usually do.

Last year we had a whopper of a storm in the middle of December and we had no power for eight days. We also had no other source of heat as our heating is electric and we don't have any kind of wood burning system. Even if we did, I am not sure we would have used it.

Here are some things to know:
Contrary to what many believe, temperature is not as critical as one might think. What is important is that the temperatures go down gradually. That is what happens as our homes lose heat during a power outage.

With no heat and with outside temps of 20 degrees Fahrenheit, a House in the Pacific NW will seldom drop below 55 degrees. If a home is well insulated, it may hover around 58 degrees. That is due to the ground temperatures in our area.

As long as the temps are a gradual drop, parrots handle it just fine.

In areas where there are feral parrots, take the quaker parrots in Port Orchard or back east in Brooklyn, for example, They survive very well in freezing outdoor temperatures.

Love birds that are in feral flocks in the NE United States regularly overwinter in temps as low as 10 degrees below 0 Fahrenheit.

Parrots in outside aviaries all across the United States handle colder temperatures routinely.

The only thing I do differently with my guys during a power outage in cold weather is add covers to their cages to preserve heat inside the cage. I have been known to warm water on the barbecue grill and use it while it is warm to serve it to my birds. Even that is not needed, I just started doing it on the 7th of the 8 day power outage in 2006.

Birds, including parrots regulate their temps by the way they hold their feathers. They just fluff a little and they are fine.

Exceptions would be any birds that are plucked as they would have more difficulty in regulating their own temperatures.

Parrots are not prone to illnesses due to the cold.

Basically, you don't need to do anything different during a power outage.

Thanks,
Bill

[lcarle]

I also thought that having the temperture gradually lowering would be easier on the birds as well. My house does need some more insulation; we dipped down to 49 degrees by Friday. That Thursday night I covered the cockatoos with more blankets. So thanks for confirming my thoughts and actions.

If I may ask, where do you live Bill? I live in Aberdeen, WA.

Thanks for the welcome.