Sunday 24th February 2008.
Not much to report lately, I have slowly been working my way through mud pond 14 with the hoe. With the clay broken up, it should dry a little quicker, as it gives it more surface area. In the deep end it is surprising how wet the clay was, now it is broken up, some residue water can be seen. I may drain down the water in the outside mud pond which is next to this mud pond, it may be stopping the water table dropping away as much as it should.
The tosai are not quite as large as I would like, but I know the reason. I have more growing this winter and that makes a difference. Koi breeding is nowhere near as easy as many think, I have a handful of koi that I am really pleased with, but only a handful (well perhaps more!).
I often think 'what a stupid way to try and make a living', I know of many ways to earn a crust which involve much less work, but it's the challenge that keeps me going! The ups and downs of 'trying' to breed koi for a living can be stressful, but I continue to slowly but surely head toward my goal.
Everything is at the peak of health at the moment, biggest problem I'm facing is lack of concrete pond space. All the concrete ponds are full, yet I need to harvest more koi which are in the mud ponds. I just have to wait for a while until the rest of the ordered koi can go to the customer. Although this will not give me enough space, at least it will allow me to harvest most of the larger koi.
There are koi in two mud ponds, these ponds later in the year will be two of the three which will have tosai growing on during the summer. I doubt that there will be enough time to dry these ponds before restocking. There is a slight chance, but if not they will be heavily limed before restocking. It is not such a problem, as the koi are much tougher, being nearly a year old. It is far more important that the ponds are well dried for new fry, as initially they have no resistance to any water born pathogen.
Both pairs of Zebra finches are still sitting on eggs, I think hatching is due around the end of the month. Initially all was harmony with the canaries, peg leg stays on her own and the other three head off in search of grass seeds. Slowly the orange one has taken a dislike to what I think (I was told) is a female, it constantly chases the light yellow coloured one and it's stressing me up! Hoping they will settle down soon?