Zone 5 be winter questions

[MrsSunflower]

So during the winters here i have to use heated water bowls for the chickens.
Should I empty the waterfall and just run the pump for the winter?

 

[MrsSunflower]

The waterfall is above the ground.

 

[TheFishGuy]

I am in zone 5a, and I do turn off my waterfall for the winter. I simply run my pump as a bubbler at the bottom of the pond to keep a hole in the ice. Larger systems with massive amounts of water flowing through the falls would likely be okay, though I am confident mine would just freeze over and crack some plumbing.

 

[MrsSunflower]

Is letting it freeze over bad? It's a small pond

 

[MrsSunflower]

If i just brought the pump and tubing in for the winter would that be a mistake to let it freeze?

 

[Mmathis]

How deep is your pond?

 

[MrsSunflower]

How deep is your pond?

2ft?

 

[SarahT]

Are you planning on fish? and is your pond the prefab hardsided? If you aren't worried about freezing, you could bring goldfish into the house into an aquarium for the winter, bring in the pump and tubing so it doesn't freeze, then your only concern would be ice freezing and potentially cracking the pond pre-fab (I don't know how likely that is). I think if you drained the prefab, put a large piece of styrofoam in it, you'd be fine, as the styrofoam will absorb most of the pressure of the ice.

 

[SarahT]

P.S. I am impressed that with the current heat wave, you are thinking ahead to winter already. A+ preparation.

 

[MrsSunflower]

P.S. I am impressed that with the current heat wave, you are thinking ahead to winter already. A+ preparation.

When it comes to pets and plants I always like to prepare for ahead instead of scrambling last minute lol

 

[MrsSunflower]

Are you planning on fish?

I was planning a few feeder fish to get things started and bringing them in for this winter.
I'm mostly worried about the plants i plan to put in it.
I've looked at a de-icer for the pond but can't seem to find any sort of heater for the outdoor pond.
Even something just to keep it from freezing solid.
For my chickens I have a special water bowl that keeps the water from freezing. Doesn't actually heat it just keeps it above freezing which is what i was wanting.

 

[Lisak1]

The goal isn’t to heat the pond - just keep an opening in the ice. But that’s only if you keep the fish in all winter.

Whether you can run the waterfall depends greatly on how it’s constructed.

 

[Lisak1]

Oops - just looked at the photo. In your case I wouldn’t run the waterfall with it being exposed like that. Do you plan to build it in?

 

[exeter]

I'm in zone 5b too, and I use something like this in my wood hot tub (above ground) to keep it from freezing, it only turns on when it's super cold and keeps the ice away. https://www.amazon.com/Pet-Products...2635&sprefix=stock+tank+heater,aps,112&sr=8-2

 

[MrsSunflower]

Oops - just looked at the photo. In your case I wouldn’t run the waterfall with it being exposed like that. Do you plan to build it in?

I want to build up some dirt but I'm not sure It'll ever be able to sit under ground. I had to have the edge of the pond above ground because of the flooding I get in the spring & heavy rainstorms so that in turn raised up the waterfall.
Now that I think about it I really should have set the pond opposite due to the hill. A lot of lessons learned this time and things to think about for our bigg pond next year.