Power Outage Help

I just got an automated call that on April 6th the power will be out for about 3 hours. I have chicks that are supposed to start hatching that afternoon. If I put a quilt around the incubator would it get too cold by the time it comes back on or do I need to start looking for a generator. I read "somewhere" that the electric company will get one to you in this situation, but they are close at 4:30, yet the call came in at 5:50 to me. So I have to wait til Monday to ask about a generator. Should I look at renting one from somewhere or would a thick quilt around it keep it warm enough? The time given is estimated and if something goes wrong could go longer. What to do?

3 hours is a long time for a small incubator to be without power, I would look into getting a generator for that time. Some small incubators will run for about that time on a battery back up as well, but if you can get a generator I would definately go that route to be safe.

I'll be calling rentco tomorrow and the power company Monday then. They just had to tell me on a weekend. Now all weekend I will be worried about my eggs

Last year the power went out late at night while I was incubating in a Hovabator. I used one of those inverter things (we get them on sale at Canadian Tire) I parked our quad next to the house and ran an extention cord to the bator. Worked great! The power ended up being out for most of the night so I likely would have lost the chicks. We also have a generator - but its a cheap 2 stroke that only sometimes starts and runs for me, and hubby was on a nightshift of course, plus it would have kept me awake all night - holy cow those 2 strokes are loud!! We let the neighbour use the generator since he had a sportsman going as well. I only used maybe a quarter tank of gas in the quad so it was well worth it. You can plug those inverters into any cig lighter so I suppose you could use your car/truck too if you don't have a quad.

Here's a link to one of the inverters we have used... the 100W ones would work for small incubators too. Canadian Tire has them on sale quite often.

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4/Auto/SolarPortablePower/Inverters/PRD~0111847P/Motomaster%252BEliminator%252B200W%252BPower%252BInverter.jsp?locale=en

Yesterday I bought a battery back up. It will work well with my mini advance bator. They use very little power so the battery back up should last for a long time. I am setting eggs in my sons classroom next week and will sleep better knowing that the battery will kick in if the power goes out over the weekend or something.

I hope you can get the power company to supply a generator - that would be awesome!!