We see them in our area very rarely. One was sitting on the top of the neighbors roof last summer within sight of the pond but showed no interest. Now the robins and magpies love to bath in the falls and drink from the pond, but not too much danger there.
Yes, I would think those poor fish must be seriously depleted by spring.
Fall and Winter
The only thief I`ve caught in the act was a crow.....in the winter.The fish come to he surface around the heater and the crow grabbed it and stayed right there on the ice and ate the poor fishie!I saw it all from the window. I am too old to trap anything bigger than a mouse or moths in pheromone traps.We did trap some raccoon years ago but there are just too many .The fish are swimming near the surface but the Coon isn`t bothering with them at all right now.It seems to be a spring thing.
The Weather is still unseasonably warm and I`m suffering with my allergies something awful.I`ll be glad to see some snow to cover up all the mould.JOY
Yes we do have Eagles.We live very close to The St.John river and they nest in the pines along the river but they must do their fishing in the river.We see them but they don`t visit the pond.JOY
I have seen the eagles flying over the rivers and I have seen the hawks circling overhead. I know they can drop from the sky in an instant into the waters of the rivers and come out with a fish, which makes me think they could do this as well with a pond. I do get nervous when I see them flying overhead when I am in the back yard. They just continue to circle over and over. I love the eagles and hawks, but do not want them to prey on my fish. I suppose I shouldn't be borrowing trouble.
Right now it is snowing outside and they are calling for 2-4" of snow. In a day or two the weather is supposed to be back into the 40's. We still do not have the heaters in the pond - Odd weather so far this year. I, truthfully am hoping it continues.
Time for a road trip to see MerryMary and Bonnie. It is getting to raw and cold for me.
How great to just load up and go see fellow gardeners. Did you know them before you came to DG?
Mary -
No. I did not know them prior to DG. I wish I could just pack up and go like that. I say that more with a whistfullness than an ability to do it. I would love to meet them as well as yourself and a number of others from DG in person.
Carolyn,
We had a drop in temps yesterday ( a very odd one!) I went into the store to Christmas shop, complaining about how hot it was and that I should have worn shorts, and came out of the store to a 20 degree drop in temp! 80's down to 60's in an hours time...yipes. Going to be in the 40's tonight. I guess that's just Mother Nature's way of getting Floridians to crack out the Christmas sweaters, lol. However, it will last only a few days and then steady out in the mid 70's for the week.
Got a beautiful 17inch blue shusui butterfly koi yesterday, I told myself it was my Christmas present. :)
MM,
Where did you find the blue shusui??? Private sale or store. I shouldn't ask cause I would really be tempted. I have to come over and see that one.
Hope our weather stays warm as it is a big job to haul out all the landscape blankets and cover my precious plants.
Bonnie
Bonnie, I found it online. But I have a little bitty one for you...I just havent made it over yet. My schedule has been crazy lately! Stay warm!
MM -
Right now I will take your 40's. We had snow and rain last night. I had a 'crunchy' drive into work today. I don't like cold and crunchy. I do like high 80's and humidity ^_^. I know, I am one of those weirdo's that actually likes humidity!
Bonnie - I have a butterfly shishui that is mostly blue - I bought him at a koi farm quite a while ago. I probably paid too much for him at the time, but he has grown into a nice fish.
I googled the blue shusui butterfly and ended up at Blackwater Creek. Oh my gosh. What gorgeous fish. And they ship to Alaska. The prices are reasonable based on what I have seen in other places and the freight is more than reasonable, less than half what I have been charged to ship from Washington State and BW is in Florida. I am sure my DH would shoot me for even thinking of buying more fish after this summer's debacle but maybe just one or two??? Pleaaaassseeeee? :) We will see how the fish do this winter - if I have a good survival rate (only loses through fish stupidity - e.g. jumping out of the pond for no apparent reason, and landing on ice), I might reassess. I have to get a good fix on the sizes of what I have and the safety margin for my pond. I have heard 1" of fish per 100 gallons? I am sure that depends on you pond and the filtration etc.
Mary, how did you know you could trust the seller or do you just automatically quarantine, etc?
I quarantine....but there are several sellers on ebay that have a long history of healthy, well maintained koi farms. I buy from the same ones who have consistently sent me healthy fish. They have excellent water quality and screen for koi viruses. I don't deal with mass produced fish import places that buy 3 inchers by the thousands. They have no clue what the health of those fish are, and need to unload them quickly to make money. Many fish farms now (the one's I trust far more) are the ones which started with amazing quality fish, bred them, and now have their OWN breeders and fry...therefore closing the farm to outside imports that can bring in a dreadful disease like KHV.
Would you care to share some names? Blackwater indicates that they have done just what you mentioned, got good quality fish years ago and now breed their own.
Oberon....I'll send you a DMail....I'm not sure aobut DG policy and if I'm allowed to promote certain people or companies in the forum?
I wasn't sure either, but figured a Dmail would work. Thanks
Probably be shutting down the pond today. I don't know where my water temps are currently - I will have to check that. We are supposed to start having night time lows in the teens...... Brrrr.
It's 26F here at 9:10AM. It gets up to the low 30's in the day. I am busily building the four gift baskets for my neighbors. I have been baking and candy making for weeks. Still have to decorate the sugar cookies and gingerbread men, then just drizzle glaze on several of the cookies. Daughter and boyfried are supposed to be here to help. Dax can help by taking Woody for walks. I am sure Woody will be delighted. Tomorrow is our (after five years) traditional trip across the cul de sac for Cookie Sunday. It started small with Amy and Sean making the $1M Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. Now it is four couples, six kids, pizza, beer, wine, soda, and a lot of fun. No over indulgence in the 'spirits', just enough to contribute to the day. Bit of a zoo with the little ones (all under 9). Oh, and Laura and Dax will be coming also. Quite busy. I haven't decorated the house or probably will.
Mary
It does sound like a lot of fun. Don't know if we will decorate the house this year - DH and I were just discussing that.
The Christmas lights are up on the outside of the house though.
Yeah, that's the big effort for DH. The thought of hauling those boxes down from the garage when no one is in the house but Damien and I, and sometimes my daughter comes over --- just not worth it. Maybe next year if the MIL is coming here for Christmas I will decorate for her.
Part of the reason is my inlaws invited us to Watertown for Christmas, so DH and I are discussing that. With them moving quite a ways away, I think it will be the last Christmas with them....
Ric pull the last of the fish out of the box pond just days ago before it froze over. The bird bath pond is still running. I will e shutting it down soon and putting the pond heater in there. I keep a pond heater in this small pond just to keep an air hole open. I think the frog needs to be tucked away for the winter. What do you think?
I think that Gnome needs to hibernate, too. LOL
Holly
What do you and Ric do with the fish? We bring in the statuary too, but this year, the statuary never made it outside...
I am wondering - with a small heater in the birdbath, is there enough water that isn't frozen so the birds come to your birdbath in the winter? I have read about birdbath heaters but not tried one - I would think it would be great fun to have one.
Carolyn
The Birdbath pond is 3ft deep so I put all the fish and hardy water plants in the bottom of that pond for the winter. I use a pond heater just to keep an open spot for the pond to breathe. I can run the pump for the bird bath for awhile depending on how cold it gets. The running water helps keep it ice free for a while but eventually that will freeze up, too. The pump is in the bottom of the pond and I don't pull it out so it is just a flick of the switch to turn it on and off. I don't use a birdbath heater in the top part. I have a different heated birdbath that I put outside in the winter.
My pond is quite small and I just used the one heater this year.This is what it looks like.JOY
Joy
Such a pretty winter scene. How have you been?
I have been quite well this fall..no pneumonia or bronchitis this year.I've tried to get out more and walk but am worn out the next day. Hope you are well and have a very happy Christmas. We had snow overnight....it looks more like Christmas.JOY
This is the back garden today.The pond is open again with the warmer temperatures.One of my squirrel friends is waiting for the morning hand out!! JOY
I posted some pictures in Canadian Gardening that show one of the events I attended in Dec. Here is my Christmas tree.Simple to decorate and the light always work and I'm not allergic to it !!JOY
Joy, your pond is beautiful. Snow is pretty but glad I'm not in it. We are unseasonably warm so my fish are still eating like pigs and putting on weight. Babies Merry Nary brought over are really growing rather fast it seems to me.
After 45 years in Fl. I have gotton used to being warm at Christmas time but still like looking at snow in other places.
Been making cookies for 2 days and have 20 boxes to fill for giveaway of various kinds. Used to do it every year when my children were little and liked to bake.
Hope everyone has a very Merry Cchristmas.
Bonnie
Bonnie Wow you are ambitious.I don't make cookies anymore.I have a good friend who loves to bake and keeps me supplied for special occasions .I do make blueberry bran muffins.I have a box of our native berries in my freezer.I live in a granny apartment beside my son.Tomorrow night we will have an open house .DIL will make Lobster Chowder and other Acadian goodies...like Clam
pie .I have my friends come....those that are left .Now their children and grandchildren come.My daughters come with my grandchildren. I hope you will have a very happy Christmas as I will A summer picture of Fredericton..
I love to cook and bake. Probably one reason the hips never seem to get any smaller.
I am hoping you all had a great Christmas. New Years is around the corner. Here's to a great ponding season for 2012!
Carolyn,
Your kois are beautiful!!! I built a shade for my kois made of heavy plastic and the seem to like it congregating underneath. It will be a long winter but it had been mild so far. Lat year we had 14 inches of snow on Christmas day.
We had 7 people for dinner and I did most of the cooking and set up. I was so busy I forgot to take pictures.
Happy New Year to all!!!
Belle
Belle
That picture was taken last August. My fish have all congregated at the bottom of my pond.
So glad this winter has been mild so far - it can continue that way for the rest of the winter as far as I am concerned
We just returned from Fairbanks (Alaska) about an hour ago. The yard is deep in fresh snow. I will try to get a picture out back. Had a good trip. Can't wait to go out and see if I can spot any fish through the tiny deicer hole.
Mary
I always have to check the hole in the snow too to see if I can find any fish. Thankfully, we have been mild enough so the pond has not really had a lot of ice on it.
Joy,
That pic. sure reminds me of home in Connecticut. My dgt & SIL were in Nova Scocia couple months back and she said it was just like our original home. She drove around while her husb. worked so she got lots of good pictures and e-mailed them to me. Beautiful place.
Carolyn,
love seeing your koi. Hope you can peek at them thru the ice when it comes.
A mild winter is predicted and thats fine with me. If I don't have to drag out all those landscape blankets and cover the plants thats great. Petunias in hanging basket are still full of blooms. Poinsettias are blooming too.
Glad all had such a wonderful Christmas.
Bonnie
My kohaku has been hanging around the shallow end under the deicer. If the temp drops I will go out and scare him to the deep end. The ice can grow down very quickly and last year it only left about 2" of water. If he fell asleep deeply, not sure he would wake up in time not to be trapped. Heck, I don't know if they even sleep. They are still swimming around. See small and larger ones at the deep end every day although my porthole is much smaller now that the temp has dropped and the snow dumped.
Here are some pictures I just took of the pond. The first one is of the inside of my skimmer. It was filled with goldfish and two koi. We keep a deicer in there to be sure the skimmer doesn't entirely freeze and break.
