Starting a compost pile before winter

Should I start a large compost pile before a long cold winter?

I have about 3 cubic yards of chicken/ pig bedding that is well manured and mixed up. It is absolutely bone dry so in order to get it going I would have to soak it down good. I don't know if it's worth doing this close to winter, it's already falling below freezing every night and soon will see -20c regularly.

Will it compost during winter or should I wait until spring?

I can only offer from my experience.
if you got the chicken droppings in it and other manure, that nitrogen will get the other organic materials kicked off  and heating up even in the coldest winter as long as it is all in one pile.
I dont know about soaking it down but maybe a bit of moisture might be good, and also this is the time of year in many North American places where a bunch of rain  starts to occur.
I will never forget one Christmas holiday a large mound , small mountain, of compost had a few a few too many crushed seeds in it. snow and ice was everywhere, this pile of compost erupted into a blazing inferno that could be seen for at least a mile. there's more to the story but that's it in a nutshell. if there's a good combination of organics in your pile it will heat up and compost just about no matter how cold it gets

Thanks Bruce.

As far as rain goes I doubt we will get any the accounts for anything at this point in the year, a couple dustings of snow which will melt but not much more.

It will freeze solid. I face the same problem. My point of view is that any non-frozen-solid time is golden, and that includes composting, so I go ahead anyway.

I suppose composting could be done inside a shelter to extend the season.

The other option, very traditional on the Prairies, is to keep your nitrogen heavy "powder" dry and use it later in a cold frame. My grandparents would take a good layer of fresh horse poop, cover it with soil, and grow early spring greens (in an era before Costco or UberEats). The heat from intensive composting would warm the soil, and the glass cover allowed sunlight in.

If you wait until spring, where will this chicken/pig bedding sit until then? I can't really think of an advantage to waiting. It may break down slowly during the winter, but slowly is better than not at all.

It will be outside in a pile but very dry and unlikely to get rained on.

If it’s dry, it might get blown around. I think go ahead and start it.

Another vote for do it now. If nothing else it will give the earthworms a place to thrive for longer into the winter.