Feedback on my basement winter duck shelter design

This is zone 5a (maybe down to -20 Fahrenheit on a freak day but normally I don’t expect that these days) and the barn basement is earth-bermed up to about 2’ from its ceiling, little basement windows that are somewhat drafty/cracked on west side and on north, doors and no earth berm all along east side.  It’s about 8’ tall basement.  Dirt floor with roofing tiles —lots of broken,old, unmarked junky #*{^}*#*}-ing crap I have been hauling out of the way.  

I’m trying to make the thing extra warm, hoping to be able to have unfrozen water available all day for them, and reduce winter feed bill.

I have brought in a trailer load of yard waste leaves and will be receiving one more (at 30$ a pop it was too good a deal to pass up an input!). I can get sawdust and cut some hay for the beasts.

The mallard ducks and geese number 11, then 4 more Muscovies, and 2 small small pigs (mangalitsa.  I expect they will help warm everyone else.  And 6 Guinea fowl, they perch, fly, and peck and scratch.  They aren’t as cold hardy from what I understand.

The barn door would remain open and a piece of wood along the top to keep warm air in there, and another board hanging down to make a “cat door” for the hogs to go in and out, a cardboard duck door at the bottom 2 feet of it.  Some daylight visible to them to hopefully get them to commute to work through it.  



Questions I particularly have: is it more trouble than it’s worth to try to keep the pigs in with the other animals?  

Is it workable to run a hose constantly dripping g out of our house over to the barn to refill the water storage tank (55 gal metal tank) if we bury much of it a bit and we are on a well that works with a pressure thingy?  

If I laze out and don’t insulate but at least make a chicken wire/deer mesh wall to prevent the guineas from exploring the demolition materials pile (on the left side of the diagram) is it a decent design?

How many mice and rats can I expect to take up residence in the insulation and how will that affect property values in the neighborhood? Will my taxes go up?  Thanks.

I've only done ducks in your neck of the woods, and didn't keep pigs year round, but they were surprisingly winter adaptable.  They spent most of everyday outdoors.   Unless it was a blizzard of freezing sleet, they wanted to be outside even when their shelter was open to them all day and dry.   Made it a lot easier to keep the shelter warm and dry that way.   For me, in deep winter, it was easier to care for each of my livestock separately (ducks, rabbits, sheep).   I could feed/water clean the ducks early in the day right up near the house (and collect eggs)  and then take care of the rabbit hutches in the barn and the sheep later on.   But for me, I do better pacing my chores throughout the day instead of trying to get a big block of time and doing it all bright and early.  Their shelter was one layer of boards and still open with hardware cloth at the top for ventilation.   I covered some of it with cardboard at the top, but left a lot open.  I brought them a clean bucket of water morning and afternoon,  and they'd keep a hole open in it for  most of the day to dunk and drink.   Having that much natural bright daylight, they usually started laying again early-mid February for me.

Whenever I sold sheep it was hard to impress on folks not to OVER shelter them in winter.   Damp and humid closed in conditions are way harder on them than open air cold.  When given the choice, they slept out on snowbanks instead inside dry run in shelter.  Especially when heavily pregnant, they wanted to be cold lol.  I know zero about the other livestock you are sheltering though (the pigs especially).  None of this may be helpful at all!

Thanks that's helpful Heather.

Definitely going to leave them a door to get out at will, and if they can't figure out how to use it then I'll just open it all the way, the ducks don't seem to be the biggest supergeniuses in the tree of life and should definitely consider running for office.

The thing I realized I left out of my design is a door for me, Guinea-proof but doesn't have to be pig-proof.  I can hike over a hog panel with a bucket, but to get into the larger area of animal farmery I will need a door for me from the south, I don't want ot have to go outside and come back in again.  Plus, there's no way to open the barn doors from inside, either the hook that latches it shut or a stone that's propping it shut can only be opened from outside.  I have an extra screen door somewhere and a couple of hinges that I can mount it with on the beam or the east wall I think.

"But Homer, how does that dog get in and out?"
"Why he just----d'oh!"

Well, now, one thing on the internet says that guineas are more cold-hardy than a lot of chicken varieties. Go figure.  They're from Africa, and there are large temperature swings at night but I wouldn't expect them to be happy in New England and especially not with snow keeping them from their bug supply.  

There's survival and then there's pampering, and I want to pamper them so as to reduce feed and eating and pooping, these aren't really beneficial to me or them in the winter, it's better for them to get a hobby or try talk therapy.