A few years ago, I considered using heated floor tiles (used on bathroom floors) for a sleeping shelf, thinking of two sheets of plywood with the bottom one for the tiles to adhere to with 2x2 cross pieces (tiles in between) and a piece of plywood over the top so no chance of urine directly on the tiles.
I never did go ahead and do this but am now wondering if the kidding stall walls could be lined with these. They radiate warmth with no fire hazard. Does anyone have any idea if this could work?
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The beauty of the tiles is that we decide how large. I was thinking more of a warming hut size, perhaps 3x3 or even 4x4, not the entire stall. The babies will gravitate to the warmth - actually mom will too. With sides and a partial roof, the heat would be concentrated in the area much like a warming hut or even a heat lamp in a corner. Putting them inside two layers of wood could make them mobile (movable), of course protecting the power source cord with metal tubing so there is no chance of chewing. Solid wood (plywood) on the top or even formica type top would make it waterproof and lay it at a slight slant so urine would "slide off" into the regular bedding on the barn floor. Because their bedding would be on top of it, they wouldn't care about the hard top. It would not need to be a permanent "floor" rather moveable for the next kidding elsewhere. What I have in my mind is one large enough to be the "base" for my composter I used as a warming hut the first two years. The composter base was the perfect size for at least triplets.
I don't think I would want it as a part of a permanent floor in a barn for the attractant to rodents underneath - they like warm also in the middle of winter. I do plan to eventually do this for their sleeping shelf but have not gotten that far yet. When we built the chicken house, we put piping in the concrete floor to later use for radiant heating. The idea there was that the bottom of the main compost bin would be below ground level and the source for heating the water to circulate through the floor (warm water as warm air rises).
Of course, the unfortunate folks who have lost a barn or even a part of a barn because of a heat lamp would consider this very economical.
Judy Asarkof said:
What I am referring to is NOT a mat. It is actually built in to a floor. I would never use a mat because of possibility of damage and wires getting exposed/cut. I am talking about actual tile which has the heating element embedded in the ceramic.
Here is one example: http://www.homedepot.com/b/Flooring-Under-Floor-Heating/N-5yc1vZapte
Even with the tile, I would want a wood "flooring" over it to protect it from getting cracked. When I first saw it, the demo was laying it directly on the subfloor and then covering it with the "regular" bathroom flooring. In that case, they actually were putting grout/tile directly over the system. However it is done, it must be protected from spilled water and urine with no possibility of damage to allow water/urine to reach any wires.
This is a really neat idea. Check out this mat. Would it pose any possibilities? It looks pretty durable, like maybe you could just lay it on the floor in a corner of the kidding stall or in a warming hut?? Of course the cord would have to be protected, but it looks very washable and stuff.
I can see a visit to the home improvement store in my future. At the time I saw them, I considered them for a greenhouse but see no reason why they could not be made to work for kids. It's just a matter of figuring out a way to do it safely. Of course, all wires going to it would have to be encased in metal tubing. That would keep goats from chewing through and rodents as well. It wouldn't take that much extra heat to help keep the kids at a safe temperature - the radiated heat might be enough.
Hoping someone here has some experience with them. They were being marketed for bathroom floors.
That sounds awesome! Never thought of that, and I'm not entirely sure how they work, but would love to hear if anyone has any experience with them.