Would this work? (Compost "Hot Box" to Warm Animals)

[maddy]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my earlier post for ideas about how to keep our shelter animals (about 70 abandoned dogs and cats) warm during the last deep freeze. We made it through.

This morning I had a new idea for keeping the older dogs warm. They reside in a barn-like structure that has no insulation and that is not even fully enclosed. (We're working on this.) There is no electricity to the barn. When the temperatures dip below zero, we feel so helpless. Some of the animals have icecicles hanging from their mouths in the mornings.

Anyway, my idea is this: What if we built some boxes, approximately four feet square and approximately one foot high, with a hinge and a handle on the "lid." Dig a 1-foot-deep pit in the dirt floor of each kennel, drop the box in. Then fill the box with fresh horse manure and straw, close the lid, and cover with straw bedding.

I got this idea from Elliott Coleman's cold weather gardening book. He uses "hot boxes" beneath his vegetable beds to extend the growing season. Do you think this would work to create a warm "bed" for each animal?

[where I want to]

As long as the ventilation is really good. Or the decomposing material is in a seperate area than the animal. Otherwise the ammonia could cause pneumonia and other respiratory problems.
When I was a kid, farmers used to use manure and straw to insulate over buried pipes to keep them from freezing or pile manure on the outside of the north of a barn to provide some heat on the north wall.
There also are those who allow it to build up in the stalls, which made a really humid and funky place to have to be. In fact one old man wanted to show me a horse to sell but had let the manure pile up to high the poor horse could not get out the door as the manure was piled so high in the stall that there was not clearance.
But the smell could be awful- and dogs might find it fun to dig through if they could get into it.

[carogator]

why not just dig the same holes, line with fresh straw and put the box over that. leave a door opening in the box and you have an individual dog house for each dog. real warm.

[ChristyACB]

The fumes from the decomposition really don't do well with animals. Believe me.

What will work well is digging the depression you spoke of and putting a crate over it as another replied but then pile the straw all around the box and over it.

It creates a sort of igloo effect for the pups and does work, especially if you put the straw inside too.

I know many animals won't go into anything that closes behind them as if they are in a box so you can just leave the door off but make sure each one has a hole for their size. It gives them a way to look out also.

Do you keep them in separate stalls? If you are putting them together, you can build one that holds a group like a den and they might like that.

We had for ours an underground smoke pipe. I'm not sure how to build it except that it was made of terra cotta stuff and inclined very slowly up and the heat and smoke traveled up the pipe along an underground channel from the heat source. I don't remember much more than that, but it did work well for the animals.

[Wolf mom]

I commend you for your time and effort in helping those poor, cold dogs.

If any get along, I'd let them snuggle down together for body heat. Also I'd use a lotta deep straw. They can dig into it and make nests. I'd also make sure there was no wind or anything wet around: dripping snow, rain.

I wouldn't go for the manure "hot box" idea. If not managed correctly, the manure can freeze, the ammonia is bad for lungs, and also some dogs just love to eat it.

[Bearfootfarm]

I'd just use hay bales to build "dog houses" for them to shelter in.

Put a thick layer of straw on the bottom and stack the bales to give them a "cave" to burrow into

[Callieslamb]

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

I'd just use hay bales to build "dog houses" for them to shelter in.

Put a thick layer of straw on the bottom and stack the bales to give them a "cave" to burrow into

I am not sure that 1 foot of manure would stay hot all that long anyway. You might end up having to replace it all the time. I go with this idea. Make them a smaller area to keep warm. That is- if they all get along well enough to let them out together.