No heat survival?

NDan · Post by **NDan** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:39 am

I am trying to think of a way to keep my finches from freezing if we have a prolonged power outage.
It occurred to me again as we were out of power for 2 hours Saturday with -33F outside air temp.
I figure I could put them into a small box and keep it under covers with my body heat warming them...
But then how will they get water if it goes over 2 hours?
It can quickly fall to 50F and they wouldn't survive just sitting in their nests. Would they?
Any good problem solvers out there with more ideas?
No power = no heat = no electricity so I can't heat anything else up either.

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:08 pm

Not an ideal situation, but during a power outage that lasted 36 hours a few years ago, I used a kerosene heater. There are also natural gas heaters that are relatively safe even without venting.

dreamboat · Post by **dreamboat** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:44 pm

If you have your heater on all day and night, you could put a big lump of something adjacent to the heater. Something like a big piece of metal or a thermal brick. This would heat up to the temperature of the heater, and continue to radiate heat long after the heat source had been shut off. Insulating the box would also be a reasonable idea.

Rob

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 12:21 pm

n dan
what type of finches are they..i have all kinds living outside in my aviary at the moment and ona a night time the temps go well below freezing with no harm coming to them so i dont see a couple of hours hurting....if you are worried about them you might use polystyrene foam to line the cage and bubble wrap for the front of the cage so it lets light in

ken

Shadowfax · Post by **Shadowfax** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:34 pm

One of the reasons I chose Zebra finches was because they can tolerate very cold temps. And yeah they sure did.
This past winter was tough for me and my animals. Money situation made it impossible for me to buy heating oil so I had to muddle through with just two electri space heaters. My house got down as low as 39 degrees a day or two and my bird came through it just fine. I made sure he had plenty to eat and was protected from drafts and he sang all winter and was happy as a....well.. lark.

If you have a more tropical species you will have to worry more. Maybe move them to a home of a friend who has some sort of heat.ie coal or something that does not need electric.