FINCHforum

As some of you may be aware the DFW and surrounding areas experienced an ice storm that has caused power outages. Well a tree fell on our house yesterday around 8 in the morning damaging the power lines. As a result of this, everything has gone out. I've got societies, zebras, and orange cheeked waxbills. There are fledged chicks and eggs in a few nests. It's forty one degrees in the house. How long can they handle temps that low? They've always been inside. Obviously there's no wind or wet on them. Is there anything else I can do for them?

They may not be able to handle those low temperatures for long without being acclimated to them. Is there any way you can get them to a neighbor, friend our relative for a short time?
How are you staying warm?
good luck

Colt oh dear! Not good news at all!!! I am so sorry to hear this! Is there anything you can do? Maybe move them into the kitchen and bake a lot!? I know when I was having issues recently with heating problems I would run my oven for a bit and turn it off, and repeat.. CAREFULLY.. and CONSTANTLY checking on them. It also helped warm me up a bit. I guess it depends if you have gas or electric for your stove. But it's tough to get through cold like that.. I remember when we had the hurricane and then right after that a huge blizzard in NY and we didn't have power for a week.. and then for another few days. It was freeeeeezing!! I hope they restore your power ASAP! And I hope all your birds make it through this ok! Outside of starting a bonfire in your house... the only thing I can think of is the oven I know it's definitely not the safest idea but it's the best I can think of, I have done it.. and worse things have been done! Best of luck, let us know how things go!! I am praying for you and your little ones!

Sorry you are going thru this it's -13 right now in Central Oregon and that's why I have a propane stove in the living room. It came in handy yesterday when my new heat pump/furnace was installed. Hope all goes well for you...

If you have a gas stove or oven, or a fire outside, heat up pots of water, then put them under the cages like a hot water bottle, covering the cages with blankets to hold the heat in. Or rocks or bricks or something solid like that (making sure you use something that is safe to heat up and won't, well, explode, basically). When we had to go a week without power in the freezing weather, hubby drove into town twice a day and heated up every hot pack we had in the house, brought them home in a cooler to hold the heat in, and we'd pile them into the covered cages in casserole dishes. We had a huge collection of hot packs by making those home-grown kind where you fill cotton tube socks with dried feed corn, can be microwaved for 1-2 minutes (depending on how much corn you fill them with) and they hold and give off quite a bit of heat for a while. You can also make them with rice, feed corn is just much cheaper.

Colt

So sorry to hear about your problems. The adult birds will be better able to handle the drop in temperature than the babies/eggs. You have gotten some good tips here, do you have a fireplace or any means of heat other than electric? My house is all electric, so that is the big problem if I lose power. I have space heaters, but they won't work without the electricity.

I lost power for only about 50 minutes several weeks ago, and I had eggs in an incubator--I lost all of them, DIS.

So sorry you are going through this!

Whenever I have aches and pains like Nerien said I put some kind if beans in a sick and heat it up in the microwave.
I only had lentils once and I put half a bag in hubs tube sock and knotted it and it was so warm. I guess you'd have to make a lot but maybe might help

Colt, so sorry that you are having to go through this. I really hope your power comes back on asap and that your birds are all ok

I, too, am hoping your power returns soon and that all your birds will be OK.

Thanks for the kind words and advice everyone. Me and the bf and the three dogs are staying at the hotel I work at about 20 minutes away from the house which has power. There simply wasn't anyway I could bring 19 finches, five chinchillas (I have a baby that was born Wednesday), the four sugar gliders and the fish tanks up here too. The company is nice enough to let me stay here for free. I've been here two nights and looks like a third is pretty well set in stone as Oncor won't have the power on tentatively until late tonight or tomorrow. And that's only an estimate.

I have no way to heat anything. The heater is actually gas, but the thermostat is electric. The oven is electric. The fridge and freezer are out as well. (Which is very frustrating. We just spent almost $400 on groceries Monday... *sigh*) Hoping everything doesn't go bad.

George popped by the house this morning when I went downstairs to work and said it was 43 in the house this morning. All the birds were "fine", flying around and eating/drinking. He said they weren't quite as active as usual but I would expect they are all sitting around puffed up trying to conserve heat and energy.

I just keep hoping they'll pull through this and the power comes on soon. I'm sure the fish are goners. They are all tropicals. The chins are built for this kind of weather (minus the moisture) and hopefully mom is keeping the baby warm, and the gliders have a warm nestbox to stay in. I'll keep you guys updated. And you send warm thoughts and keep your fingers crossed.

And thanks again.

I saw that Cindy posted this on one of the facebook groups:

http://www.heatal.com/birds/bird_heaters.html

Bird heaters that can be operated by batteries if needed.

Here is a link for do-it-yourself heater - made from a candle and clay pots.
There are other variations - some don't use the washer/bolts.

Good to have for emergency situations!

Thinking of your animals - hope the power has returned by now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bus9EUMUmJM

Lauren

I'm sorry you lost power, but glad you have a place to stay. A couple years ago, I lost power for almost a month. i had to leave my pets in the house without heat, but we put lots of blankets and crates around the fireplace and kept a fire going. For the finches, I provided them all nests with lost of nesting materials and wrapped towels around the cages and moved them away from windows. I eventually moved all the cages into the family room with the fireplace and they all made it, but we didn't have babies. I'd think if they have shelter (like nests) and are away from windows and drafts, they have a good chance. The eggs won't make it unless they incubate 23/7, but who knows? They just might surprise you. Good Luck and keep us posted.

Hi Colt -

How are things there? Been thinking of you and the animals….

Lauren

Well we got electricity back sometime the night of the 8th or the morning of the 9th. However the surge of power when the tree hit the house has caused some issue with the central heat and A/C unit in the attic so we have no heat.

All of the animals except the tropical fish made it through. I'm sure I lost the fish and the shrimp sometime the first day. Thank goodness I hadn't started putting any corals or expensive stuff in the the saltwater tank.

The birds are all doing fine and have a heat lamp at one end of the flight for them to use.

The landlord was supposed to have someone come out yesterday to fix the heat. No one came and I got the same story today with the same result. So I'm still at the hotel. This is also finals week at the university so needless to say I am ridiculously stressed out.