Congrats on the new place! Sounds like a nice setup. For the koi, they should be fine in the new pond. There are not any issues that I'm aware of between them and the normal pond fish (catfish, bass, panfish, etc). I have fished a lot of ponds in my days, especially as a kid, and many of them had koi. The only issue I can think of is if the fish in your current pond have some sort of bacterial infection. They could transplant it to the new pond. If the fish are healthy and the current pond has no issues, they should be fine to transplant.
Congrats on what sounds to be a great place to live. Enjoy! I have also known of some ponds that have koi and seem to do well. Sadly, one of them got hit pretty hard by otters. In regards to the dock. You may have plans to get it done this summer?? But, if not, you can wait until this winter when the pond had good ice. Then you can use an ice auger or chain saw to cut holes where you want the support legs to go. You can either drive them in or put them on cement feet. Then build the dock while walking around on the ice. I have found it to be a lot easier than working from a boat etc. Just a thought. Good luck with all of your projects.
HUGE congrats to you, Atlas! You will LOVE it!! I owned 12 acres that was attached to 18 more that I could hunt and it was some of the best times of my life .. man I miss that! We bought a new place as well ... we close in less than a month now ... I am going to do the chicken thing ... but the wife asked if I would wait until next spring/summer ... so I will. I can't wait to hear how much you LOVE it ... there is nothing better
I currently have 124 chickens. Like Bruce said, you'd probably only want six or so. They can be a breeze if you don't keep too many. I don't give my birds any heat over the winter. I do have heated waterers but mostly I don't use them and just dump ice every morning and fill rubber water pans for them. I can let my six old hens just wander around the yard. They put themselves in at night and go out in the morning when they want. Predators (knocks on wood) aren't a very big problem here. My dog acts as chicken protector. I use a JD 2305 tractor with a belly mower here. It's a bit much for a mower but the tractor part is awesome for small tractor-y jobs. Koi are just pretty carp. If you put them in a pond where carp would overpopulate... the koi will do the same. And because you can't control who does the breeding, they tend to revert back to bronze/yellow coloring after a few generations. Congrats!
I do not know why that wouldn't work... But, I am by no means an expert on setting pylons for a dock / pier system. I have even heard of people going underwater with a power washer and using it to dig the hole (the water pressure). Then set the pylons in said holes and temporary brace them. Then backfill the pylons once they are all set and checked for overall dimensions and square.
Damn............I like that idea but I want the deck/dock ready for a big house warming/July 4th party we want to have.
Wow...........I guess you do know chickens. Any breed recommendations for cool looks or better yet more of a pet disposition?
I have heard/read about water jetting too............not sure how you could control the hole size but I'm sure it would work to at least get them down a bit. I guess a lot will depend on the composition of the bottom substrate............soft mud will be great but hard rocks, roots and other junk will surely complicate the job. I am thinking I will need 3 posts actually in the water............I hate to curse myself with such a stupid statement but.......... How hard could it be?
Sounds like you're picking up a lot of good information. As far as your carp... they'll be a big hit with the Blue Herons. LOL Sounds like you found a little bit of paradise to call home. Congrats. If you're into handy stuff and keeping busy and clearing and gardens and all that... I agree with whoever said, buy something with lots of attachments, buckets, cultivators, backhos and all that stuff. Yes it's a lot of bucks. If you don't want to spend the money you can hire some of that done when you need it.
Currently my favorite chickens are these Golden coments/ISA browns hens. They're bred to be egg layers. They start laying early and they lay all winter. Nice big brown eggs too. They're not at all skittish. They don't mind being picked up and aren't really afraid of anything. (except the black plastic box I set the water on.. if I pick that up and hold it over thier heads they absolutely freak out.. which is weird because they don't pay any attention to it while it's on the ground) They're a little underfoot because they will run up to you and don't always get out of the way. I have some barred rocks which will also run up to you and follow you around. They don't like being touched at all tho'. My Rhode Island reds will come up to me but have always been a bit cranky and skittish. I used to have a polish chicken, she was mean and stupid. (stupid for a chicken even) I have experience with white leghorns too. Those are great egg layers but they can be very nervous, flighty birds. ISA browns/Comets (aka red sex-links) are lighter weight birds -there's not much meat on them. The barred rocks I have are bigger and heavier dual purpose birds (eggs or meat). I have a lot of hawks around here but so far none have messed with the chickens. I think the barred rocks are big enough to intimidate the hawks. I raise cornishx chickens for meat. I have 27 five week old ones right now. They already weigh about 4lbs. I'll be butchering them in a week or two. Last time I had some dress out at 7lbs which was a bit too big. Don't get cornishx chicks unless you want meat chickens. They are just eating/growing and pooping machines. But for meat purposes, they're amazing. Build a very secure pen if you're in a high predator area. I've gotten too lax on my predator watch. I left two carp way out in the field and something (I'm guessing a possum) dragged one all the way back to the yard and was eating it under my portable chicken coop. This morning the remains of the carp were inside the coop. So I think the possum dragged it into the coop to eat it. (It's much too big for the chickens to drag in) That's not cool. My barred rocks and rhode island reds with my dog. My dog is 55-60 lbs so you can see that those are fairly good sized chickens. (but they go right through that fence) Me out stylin' in my sweats and hanging with my peeps. (golden comets) We call this batch 'the velociraptors'. Throw a deer rib cage down and they are all over it. Piranhas would be jealous. Heaven help you should you fall and become incapacitated in the coop. They'll be friendly right up until they figure out you're made of meat.
We lost 5 barred rock hens to red tailed hawks. We know because when we were letting them free range my wife got a hawk off of one hen right next to the patio. That hen lived as she stopped the attack immediately. We got the hawk off of another hen out by the barn, right beside our dual axle trailer. The chickens liked to hide under the trailer but this one hen apparently didn't make it. She was dead and we buried her. I have been chasing a small red fox for two days now. It was casing our chicken tractor which has 23 4 week old cornish X's in it yesterday morning and I just came in from spooking it away from the coop with the Rooster and our layers. This will be the last time we raise cornish X's. For meat birds we will be getting Freedom Rangers/Color Range Broilers. The first 25 of those should get here in about 4 weeks. This time of year, Mar-May, around here is maximum predator time.
Not sure why you would laugh at that, but anyways.......... The 1 acre new home pond is cut like a bowl with almost no shallows and is 18 ft deep at the center........herons won't go where they can't walk. If that doesn't keep them away...........I have 4 bows and lots of arrows.
