How's your pond?

We keep milk jugs with the handles tied to bricks in our water garden in the winter so that the fish always have air. This has worked well for us the past 3 years....vic

I feel a little like a fraud on this answer. My "pond" is a little woman-made one about 7' long, 2' wide and a little over 2' deep when I clean out the dead leaves. I actually call it a mini-bayou. The raccoons have eaten all of the fish, but there are still some frogs jumping in when I cross the bridge I built over it. It has frozen several times in the past, about three inches of ice, but the silly goldfish I had then didn't seem to even notice. The hole is lined with plastic, and that might have made a difference. Assuming my energy and strength will permit, I hope to re-dig it, reline it and renew it this summer. And add that one last rail to the side.

My pond really belongs to the heifers. We seem to have fish, although I can't imagine where they came from. The frogs are fat and sassy and the herons love them. I can't wait to see what the "puppies" think of it this spring, when it thaws out.

I had to get a new filter and pump system this fall since DH didnt take care of the pond while I was away. I really do love it cause...I have only had a thin bit of ice form on pond and not even all the way around and it has been very unseasonably cold here the past couple of weeks. Last year with the old filter/pump system it froze almost solid except for one little hole.

I have a heater in mine. The pond is very small comparatively speaking. But I have 5 fish that DH said can't come inside so I have a heater.

My "big" pond is in a sheltered spot, so it took a lot longer to freeze than the small one that sits in an exposed area. Last week, the ponds were frozen (the big one was except where the bubbler was still working.) With the relatively warm weather we got this weekend, they're now mostly thawed again, and will probably stay that way until it turns really cold again.

We have 3 ponds; all are frozen for the winter, they finally froze on Christmas Eve.
I'm thinking about buying a heater for one of them next year.

Paul

The 1/4 acre pond in NY is frozen around the edges I'm sure even though I can't see it from here. The inflow from the springs will keep it open enough so the fish will do OK.

I have had a heater too, for the past 2 years. Just got a foot of snow yesterday and the hole looks like a deep well. Fish tend to huddle around the heater. It always amazes me.

Aimee

We have a similar sized pond 7ft L* 3ft W* 3ft D determined soley by my being fed up of digging the soil out on the day it was made. I like to think of it as a good size for a back garden LOL. Froze over all last week despite floating things so we had to keep breaking it, I hope the fish get over their headache. The ducks have a converted childs sand pit as a pond, they are bantam ducks so small enough to have a good swim and to dive under the water. Imagine their surprise when they found it became a skating rink, we had to brake the ice almost constantly in that one too. The sink/pond in the front garden which is purely for the wildlife didn't freeze over despite the garden facing north. I attribute this to the amount of plant cover it has accumilated since last years clear out.

An aquarium pump with airstone has worked well for my pond for the past 3 yrs. The airstone is just a few inches below the surface and creates enough water movement to keep a nice size opening in the ice. I'll be glad when it all melts so I can see the fish again.

Jean

i want one, i want one! hmmm, do you think I could bribe DH with chocolate chip cookies? ... I'm definately gonna have one when we move, even if I have to dig it myself ... but I prefer bribery...

kmom, maybe you'll get lucky and find a house with one already installed. That's what we did. In fact, the inside of the house needed so much updating, it was the property (trees and ponds) that tipped the scale in favor of this house over a newer one. Some days I regret that decision, but never when I'm "playing" with my pond :)

that is one of the things on my want list is 1/4 to 1/2 acre pond one of these days

Don't have a pond! We do have a sewage lagoon though. We had the local tv station out here to interview us for a farm family spot on the news. He told us our "pond" was very pretty.

No pond here either but the river is iced up enuff to walk on in most places...and today, while staring out the window at the DENTISTS' office I got to look at a mostly frozen pond and some really disturbed Canadian Geese! They would fly in to land on the pond and think they were gonna land in water...HAH! They'd hit the ice and go slipping and sliding then stand up and look all around as if to see if anyone saw them do that! Eventually they'd waddled across the ice to the corner of the pond that wasn't frozen, party a while, then waddle onto land and bask in the little bit of sunshine!
I'm like you Dave719, I have ten acres and have always wanted a nice pond...I'd swim in it, raise fish in it, irrigate from it, play in it. But alas, so far no go!

Shoe, that had to be a funny sight. Your story made me think of the Nenana River in Alaska, where they actually have a state lottery over the predicted ice break up. If you haven't ever heard of it, you can do a web search and find out all sorts of interesting stuff about this long-standing tradition. A few years ago, I was in Alaska in February, and got to see the river and the contraption they set up to precisely capture the moment the ice officially breaks up. Didn't win the lottery, though :)

My pond froze solid last year and every little critter died! I got a de-ice/heater for my bithday this year and so far not a sign of ice on my pond!! It has been pretty cold here so I guess it's working pretty well!!!
sue