No heat with a Macaw

[PennysMama]

Hi everyone! I am new to this forum.
I had a question...with all of this winter weather, what do you all do with your birds if the electricity goes out?
I have a vent free procam wall heater (gas) but am afraid to use it.
So far I have not had the electricity go out in the winter, but need to know what to do if it happens. My Dad (next door) has a gas fireplace, but I am afraid of that also?
What do you all do? Just cuddle your baby till it comes back on?

Thanks!

Melanie (Pennys Mama)

 

[Terry57]

Hi Melanie and welcome! I have a wood burning fireplace and would use that if we lost power. I am not too sure about the heaters you mentioned, but I am sure someone will pop in that does
I'd love to see pictures of Penny!

 

[Kalidasa]

Pack them up and go to a hotel, preferably with room service

 

[goalerjones]

If you do a pre-burn with good ventilation the gas should be okay. Make sure there are no leaks of course because you'll all be dead in the morning. Accumulated dust will burn off if the units haven't been used in awhile.

 

[noblemacaw]

I am pretty much screwed if we lost power up here in the frozen tundra. The gas fireplace uses electric to turn it on and be used. Once I lost power when it was cold (not full on winter but temp dropped really fast) and my roommate called the energy company telling them we had a baby (Valentino was really young) in the house without power. 15 mins later the power was restored. I bet they thought she was talking about a human baby. LOL.

What I did was bring Valentino to bed with me. I put a towel on bed and pulled the covers up over us and I cuddled him. He wiggled out realized how cold it had gotten and wiggled right back it. It was adorable. LOL.

I have lived in my home for 12 years and only lost power once in winter. Sure I lose power in the summer time but that is not as much as an emergency as winter power loss can be.

If push came to shove and I had to evacuate because it was taking too long to restore power and the temps continued to drop I would pack up travel cages and put my parrots in their carriers and drive them over to a friends home.

 

[sbrenton]

Have you looked into buying a generator? The whoel house ones are the best but you could use a decent sized one to run an electric heater. I had the same concers and had to buy a generator. I have 3 kids, 4 dogs, 4 cats, 5 cockatiels, 1 Macaw and a rabbit. There is no way I could go to a hotel or a friends so the generator was my only option.

 

[PennysMama]

We made it without losing power! I have thought about a generator, but I have a house that was built in 1961. The gas meter is on one side and the electric on the other...they decided they could not put one in without a lot of extra cost.
When it warms up, I will burn off the heater and open all of the windows. I think investing in a good carbon monoxide alarm would be good too.
Funny how we worry more about our feathered babies than we do ourselves.....Thanks everyone for your advice.