Huge winter storm coming...help?

[LoveMyConlan]

So my area is set to get hit with 8-14 inches of snow within about a day and a half. Needless to say, we have been warned about possible power outages. And the evening hours are going down to single digits.

With no way to travel them somewhere else once it starts, not that there is anywhere, and the possibility of no electricity....how can I keep my birds warm? We have a gas stove and oven so I can make hot water for hot water bottles...but they could eat those.

I want to everything today so we are set just in case.

Any winter power outage tips?

They all have these woobies... which are just strips of fleece that are hanging in their cages like a canopy that they can crawl between, but I don't think that's enough.

 

[clark_conure]

My progression of ideas.....

1) gas stove means gas oven, turn it on let it heat kitchen move cage to kitchen.

2) inside the shirt, rotating people if you have to sleep so no crushing.

3) warm up car, hang out in car as it idles. Go fill up all your tanks now!

4) find neighbor with generator or fireplace etc.

5) all else fails, some building with a generator, surely police station or hospital or????? go there and hang.

6) burn "dirty coal" so global warming comes faster. (Clean coal doesn't help.)

7) Cuddle all you can.

 

[bill_e]

House or apartment?


Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

 

[EllenD]

I'm right here with you in State College Conlan, waiting to have to snow-rake 500 cars, move them, plow, and move them back...I hate the car business in the winter!!!

Luckily my house is very odd and has 3 different heat sources, electric being the main one, but I also have 2 propane heaters built into the walls, one on the third floor and one on the main floor, and the tank outside is full...And the walk-out level has a huge, old wood stove that heats the entire house if I light it, so I just moved a ton of wood in...But I've been there where you're at, as I only started having the propane tank hooked up to the house this year as a back-up to the electric heat...

***One thing that I always have on-hand are a ton of "Hot Hands" and "Hot Feet", or sometimes they're called "Fisherman's Friend", the little packs that you open and they emit chemical heat for hours and hours...They are wonderful if the heat goes out..Before I had a back-up heat source I would put my birds into their small plastic carriers or their Pak-O-Birds, then I'd put a "Hot Hands" in the bottom of the carrier wrapped up in a towel so they couldn't get to it or burn themselves (they get hot!)...Then I'd put the 3 carriers with the Hot-Hands in them into my master-bedroom closet, as it's big enough for all of use to be comfortable while having 3 plastic carriers in there and me, but not too big that it doesn't hold-in heat...Shut the door and bring a couple of battery-powered shop-lights and LED lanterns, and some sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows, along with my fully-charged Tablet and cell phone, along with several fully-charged power-banks/sticks, so I'd have a good 48 hours of battery back-up power for my Tablet, phones, and the lights/lanterns...And I swear, those Hot-Hands things kept the entire closet toasty warm and the birds didn't even notice anything was wrong...

The Hot-Hands things last a lot longer than hot water-bottles do, you can get a good 4-6 hours out of them, and they're cheap. I buy them at Walmart in the camping section, and buy a ton at a time so we're stocked-up just in-case, and Walmart is half the price of Dick's Sporting Goods or anywhere else I've seen...Just make sure if you use them to keep your bird's warm that you wrap them up in a towel so the can't chew on them and so they don't get burnt or over-heated by them...You can either put your birds in a small carrier with them in the bottom, OR you can actually wrap them in a towel and put them in the bottom of their cages if the cage is small enough or you use a few of the Hot-Hands, and then just cover the cage with some blankets/sheets to lock-in the heat...

Good luck, everyone here is freaking out already, I think you're in Lancaster or Scranton area? So about 2 hours east of me either way. I think you're set to get a bit more than us, but not much more, we're hearing about a foot or so...

 

[LordTriggs]

hot water bottle then wrapped in a towel is a good heat source that won't burn them. If they're cold they can cuddle up in the towel getting warmth and if they get too warm can wander away and cool off. Just place in the bottom of the cage to on side or corner and they can regulate themselves with it.

I'd be wary of running a gas oven all day cause cost and also fumes if it goes wrong in some form

 

[clark_conure]

8) candles or...

9) if open hit a walmart and get those buffet warming tins (like candles), put something around them as birds are very flammable!

10) Un-bury you plutonium reactor like in "the Martian" (with Matt Damon) and bring it into your house.

11) Wait aren't you the owner that has that awesome parrot in the hoodie? Put bird in hoodie.
Yep, in fact I just looked over posts because I only sort of remember one and your bro has a kerosene heater for garage....not a bad idea, crack the garage door and house door try to get fumes out and heat in?...

12) car I'd keep as the last resort
warm it up, turn it off keep windows closed....in garage....turn on when cold turn off when warm again, could last a few days.

 

[clark_conure]

some of these are some good ideas....and this is just thinking out loud! by typing quietly.....

 

[clark_conure]

oh also the car can keep your cell phone charged as you search for other sources of heat.

 

[ParrotGenie]

Good to have in emergency a MR buddy catalytic propane heater Walmart usually sell them and keep a window cracked a little, open to vent so CO2 Carbon Dioxide PPM don't get to low as still burn oxygen and keep heater by that window. Propane heaters don't put out monoxide, so not harmful if used correctly and burns very clean. I used them when I had power outage for a couple of days last winter. Also running heat in a car of course with door open, or outside and putting bird in a carrier will work if temperature is critically low. You can also fill tub with hot water assuming gas water heater and keep bird in bathroom if needed for a while

 

[dhraiden]

All great advice - Clark's suggestions have me rolling! :smiley5:


I'd second Triggs' suggestion about the towel-wrapped hot water bottles. Also, not like it's best to do this so last-minute (and I'm equally guilty, living an old, drafty house), but caulking your windows and getting these kinds of things for beneath doors and windows helps keep the heat in. I can also think of possibly your getting a portable generator to keep the electricity on in the event of an outage, and supplementary to that, smaller one you can connect to a oil-filled radiator.

 

[riddick07]

In the future buy the heavy drapes or sealing kits for the windows. It'll reduce how fast you lose heat. I don't worry until it starts getting below 40 in the house. I have a lot of paired up birds so they cuddle for warmth too for awhile. Otherwise I just grab a hotel room if it's gotten too cold and the heat isn't coming back on soon.

We use the little oil tins to warm up a room that we sit in. I've only had to grab a hotel room once and we lost heat for like a week.

There's a lot of pillowcases used if I need to bring the snakes but those guys are tuff and survive cold for awhile. I do have shipping heat packs that I could use too but never have. The hand warmers are too dangerous for me to use around the reptiles.

 

[bill_e]

The only thing that is gong to work for a prolonged outage is either supplemental heat or electricity. That means either a generator or as ParrotGenie suggested a Mr. Buddy heater.

Remember, if you bring any propane heater into the space you must open a window so you don't suffocate.

 

[SailBoat]

The only thing that is gong to work for a prolonged outage is either supplemental heat or electricity. That means either a generator or as ParrotGenie suggested a Mr. Buddy heater.

Remember, if you bring any propane heater into the space you must open a window so you don't suffocate.

Great summation above.

Take care, as some suggests require special use /operation knowledge as to assure that one doesn't cause one's own death, but that of your Parrot(s).

 

[Tami2]

We have a generator and a wood burning stove in our fireplace with cords & cords of wood and 2 4x4s. It’s no longer an issue for us.

Prepare as best you can. You’ve gotten some excellent advice.
Best of luck and hopefully you won’t loose power and/or maybe it won’t be as bad as expected.

 

[bill_e]

We have a generator and a wood burning stove in our fireplace with cords & cords of wood and 2 4x4s. It’s no longer an issue for us.

Prepare as best you can. You’ve gotten some excellent advice.
Best of luck and hopefully you won’t loose power and/or maybe it won’t be as bad as expected.

Tami, are you supposed to get hit too? We're forecast to get between 14-20" but that's not a big issue up here.....but it does
make the snow plow drivers happy for the overtime

 

[Tami2]

We have a generator and a wood burning stove in our fireplace with cords & cords of wood and 2 4x4s. It’s no longer an issue for us.

Prepare as best you can. You’ve gotten some excellent advice.
Best of luck and hopefully you won’t loose power and/or maybe it won’t be as bad as expected.

Tami, are you supposed to get hit too? We're forecast to get between 14-20" but that's not a big issue up here.....but it does
make the snow plow drivers happy for the overtime

Hey Bill, we're only getting about 6". But, the problem we'll incur is the massive ice storm & deep freeze that follows. I just rec'd a message from our police department to expect power outages and to be prepared to stay off the roads, more so due to the ice. 4 wheel drive has nothing on icey roads.
So, we'll all hunker down as we usually do.

Actually, we love getting 18-20+ inches, so I'm a little jealous of your forecast ... hehe But, the ice is a different story altogether.

 

[ChristaNL]

My mother swears by those sheets of polystyrene (the little balls al made into sheets) for extra heat-isolation (small windows etc.). Since they are mostly white some light will still get through.
Being a complete non-DIYperson, she just wedges them everywhere when it gets really cold--- and it works. (All that trapped air probably).

Not great if you have parrots around the love to nibble !! -but for those places without double glazing, any heatsource etc ...it really works.

(Cardboard als works pretty well - just layer it on if you are in a pinch (at least the parrots will be okey, just box in their cage - partly anyway, just covering the top will keep in a lot of extra bodyheat) )

 

[noodles123]

hot water bottle then wrapped in a towel is a good heat source that won't burn them. If they're cold they can cuddle up in the towel getting warmth and if they get too warm can wander away and cool off. Just place in the bottom of the cage to on side or corner and they can regulate themselves with it.

I'd be wary of running a gas oven all day cause cost and also fumes if it goes wrong in some form

If you do the water bottle thing, I would be hesitant to leave it in there, un-monitored over night. If a bird falls asleep against it and the water cools, it could leech heat away from his/her body even faster than cold air would be able and that could be very bad. People have gotten hypothermia in heated homes when the heating element on water beds malfunctioned.

 

[Laurasea]

Does turning the heat up now while power is still on, help it take longer for temps to drop when it does go off? Stay safe!

 

[noodles123]

You could also tape plastic bags over windows(or shove them between the glass and screen if you have those types of windows) and put towels under doors to prevent heat loss/drafts. If they sell big battery cells with plug ins for computers, you might be able to use one to power a teflon free space-heater (but you would need to be certain the coils were pfoa/ptfe/teflon free within the heater (but might check the following indoor generators for off-gassing issues related to teflon etc as well..DK if they get hot inside) https://www.amazon.com/Aeiusny-Generator-Portable-Emergency-Solar/dp/B01IW408R0?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1. or, cheaper= https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FXY1LN...&pd_rd_r=74fc9af2-1b86-11e9-9c09-93d0651ab230
or get a gas generator for $300 and run it outside.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Westinghou...KG2hzboGI5l05PXcYJtCu95coPcegm1UaAvBTEALw_wcB