Wisconsin Pond Build

[HARO]

The cardinals here are very picky; black oil sunflower seeds or forget it! John

 

[herzausstahl]

Turned off the stream now to begin getting ready for winter. Here is what I did in the upper pool:



I let it drain down and then bucket brigaded a lot of the extra water out. Then I blew air in the line and put an end cap on the end to keep water from getting in over winter. I expect it to fill up with snow and be full of water by spring. I will pick the leaves out and add a net over the top to leave on till leaves are done falling.



Here is the 450 gph pump connect to a foaming fountain head. It is deep enough that it acts as a bubbler which is what I wanted.



Here is the small air stone I added just to see how it does.



Here is the cover for the air pump running the air stone. If the pump or cover dies I will just remove it. I probably will get a small heater just to keep a hole in the ice for this year and then next year get a Little Giant air pump that can go under water and use that to help add oxygen to the pond and for winter as well. Will see how the 450 gph pump works this winter.

 

[herzausstahl]

Thanks John, that is all my parents put in their feeders and they seem to attract everything. Just curious if they would go for anything else. Not sure if I would be able to draw them in though. There are woods near by but our sub division is in an old farm field, so pretty wide open.

 

[taherrmann4]

Herz what is your temp up there now? You are a lot further north than I am but I usually don't have to shut mine down till right before Thanksgiving.

 

[j.w]

Cute little Shubbies you put in your pond. I put 6 in this summer and only ever see 3 of them. Still hoping they show up sometime but not counting on it.
Your little daughter is a sweet heart and looks very happy w/ the new fishies!

 

[addy1]

I use the seed from costco, it is a mix. The cardinals munch on it and a bunch other birds. They like large areas to land on. I have hanging feeders they will go to but they have a wide foot stand for the bird to stand on.

We get a ton during the winter. They are so pretty, bright red in the snow.

 

[sissy]

well I have to watch birds now after aggie tried to kill one and think she may have tried again I found feathers in the pond but no body .Thats why I did not want trees to close ,they are nice for the shade but can really be a pain in the butt come shedding time .I bought 6 of the cold hardy palms and hope they keep growing

 

[herzausstahl]

Tmann,
The temps haven't been bad here. The stream was more an economical one. I have budget billing for my utilities (for convenience, I don't have AC for the summers, so instead of having huge winter bills and tiny summer ones, I pay the same every month while the utility keeps track and adjusts the plan for the following year). I am coming up on a renew of the plan and didn't want them to adjust it to high based on my usage increasing the last 2 months due to the pond. I figure it will run 6 months out of the year, but didn't want my new budget to reflect as if it ran 12. My fish are small enough yet the O2 in the water shouldn't be an issue, plus my pump running my filter turns over the whole volume of the pond once an hour. That pump I still have running and I set up my winter pump now while it's warm so I don't freeze my a$$ off later. Plus to add a little oxygen in the mean time. That's also why I have the air pump running now too. I do plan to run the filter pump until the water temp hits between 32-40 degrees and the outside temps get low enough that I might worry about the water freezing in the lines or the filter (people say running water doesn't freeze, only kinda true, our waterfalls around here freeze almost solid, really cool in winter, some people even go ice climbing on them). As for the time of year it gets really cold all depends. I used to play football on thanksgiving annually with friends (until we all got to old and all didn't come home for the holiday) and some years it would be in the 20's -30's and others in the single digits to the teens (sucked one year when the ground was frozen, was like playing on concrete).

Addy,
Good to know, it sounds like the mix I get here from Fleet Farm (midwest hardware store), but I just need a platform and for some Cardinals to find it. Next to Bluejays I think Cardinals are a close second favorite of mine, although I have always been partial to hawks when I see them flying around or sitting on the side of the highway looking for prey.

JW,
Thank you! In the pics it was only 1 shubie, and the rest were goldies! Got lucky on the colors I could get the employees to chase down and net for me. I do have about 5 shubie's in the pond now though. Hoping they will end up looking like mini koi. And yes my daughter is an equal blend of sweetness and mischief. She is a daddy's girl and somewhat of a Tomboy to boot, and she has played in the pond since I began it (although now, just on the deck around it, never alone of course ). I also turned her into a little rock hound. I got a lot of the rocks from a house being built near by and she would actually ask to go pick rocks, always wants to help me now when I work outside. Also part of the Tomboyishness has come from me taking her hiking on trails around here. I got a kid carrying hiking back pack and she loves it.



Her name is Jovi, Jovi and daddy hiking. Although this pic is about 8 months old since she still has a nuk in her mouth.

Sissy,
I have to admit on a certain level a fish trying to eat a bird is kind of cool, given that most of the time its the other way around. It could also just be the bird molting, I find feathers from the Mourning Doves in the water all the time, but I know there aren't any predators around to get them, unless of course you are finding several.

As for predators, I haven't seen any herons around, but I know they are in the area as I have seen them in natural ponds around here. But I did realize that we have raccoons closer than I thought in the neighborhood. I was on my way home tonight from work and saw one run across the road about a mile from my house, so I will have to be on the lookout for tracks or some other sign of them.

 

[taherrmann4]

Herz,
Ok that makes sense and I thought that was your filter pump too. Something you could always do next year is to put it on a timer to only run certain hours, my brother has this on his pond where the creek only runs during the day or early evening and shut off at night to save on electric bills.

We have had a ton of cardinals this last year, we used to feed them exclusively black oil seed but it was damn messy from all the shells and during high winds they blew into the pond. This year I switched to a mix and we have gotten a good mix of birds. I have this feeder (http://www.drollyank...0.html?Itemid=3) and it has worked to keep the squirrels out as well as the raccoons. If I tried a platform feeder it would end up being a squirrel and raccoon feeder. This feeder has lasted longer than any that we have had in the past, they are a bit pricey but well worth it, may just be the last one I buy. After getting a squirrel proof feeder my wife felt bad for the squirrels b/c they could no longer eat the food so I had to build a squirrel feeder for them. It was my first one and I need to go back to the drawing board as the raccoons destroyed it. It was neat to watch the squirrels lift the lid with their head to get to the seed only took them a week or so to get to figure out how it worked. The squirrels live behind our house in some woods that is about 150 ft away. We also have hawks that come by for a meal every so often and I have seen him a few times come in and scoop one off from around the feeder it is something to see. Several years ago my wife was looking out the window of her home office watching a robin dig for worms when all of sudden a hawk came out of nowhere and took it, leaving only feathers on the ground. She was quite saddened by this event.

 

[sissy]

No I was by the pond at the other end when the bird landed in the stream to take a bath or whatever and aggie grabbed him in a split second and took him under and lucky bird I was there as I got the net and chased aggie and pulled the bird out and set him on the ground he shook off a couple of times primped and then flew off .

 

[addy1]

wow sissy your aggie is the pond queen! glad you saved the poor little bird. I have watched the hawks take doves off and on.

 

[sissy]

I call her a witch and told her halloween is coming

 

[herzausstahl]

Tmann,
I was kind of thinking of doing something like that next year. Only catch is I would have to find a 2" diameter one way flow valve (forget what its called) to be able to do that. But I could always just manually go out and close the ball valve and turn off the pump. I was thinking of doing that and if I get an aerator I wouldn't have to worry about the O2 loss. Running out of outlets though. Might have to think about adding another one off of what I have going out there. Although I could do it with just switching some plugs around though, but another outlet would be easier. If I got a one way valve I could add another double outlet with a timer attached to it and connect the pump to that one. Luckily I don't run into squirrels or raccoons out here yet in my yard so I could go with a platform feeder. Just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Sissy,
That is one crazy story!


So what kind of net do you guys use to clean out the pond with?

 

[addy1]

I use a swimming pool net, with the flat piece of plastic on the front. works great, fine weave and large.

 

[sissy]

use them same thing and get the pole with it that extends and then all you have to do is buy a new net if you need it .Much cheaper than the pond nets and great when they put them on end of season sale .I just got a new net for mine at walmart for 5 dollars