Wintering Shubunkins

[neon]

When is the latest Shubunkins can be brought in for the winter?

[bergenm]

I normally bring my koi in once the water stays below 10 C (50 F) - They can stay out longer but their metabolism slows down a great deal and it's a bit of a shock to their system moving back into warmer water.

[sas]

I start bringing our Shubunkins and butterfly koi in as soon as there is a large change in temperature from day to nighttime. I like to get them settled inside before they have started to slow down their metabolism. It's just too stressful leaving them out late and then bringing them in to a heated house.
Having said that I have left them out till mid Dec. but..........you have to watch them so closely once they've been brought in. Never mind the fact that working in cold water isn't something I relish.

[beowulf]

Brought mine in yesterday.  Leaving them in a large, filtered rubermaid container in the garage.  Warm enought for the water not to ice over but cool enought for them to slow down for the winter.

[Fishnut]

I'm bringing mine in today.  I have a rubbermaid livestock watering tank for a pond so I scooped the koi out, put them in a large container in the garage and am in the process of filling their pond, which I empties and lugged into the garage.  Their water is FREEZING!!  They're so cold that I was able to grab them and scoot them into a bucket to transfer them from pond to container.  No net!!

They will be living in the garage for the winter and had their lat meal a couple of weeks ago...until spring ofcourse!

Here's a pic of them waiting for their pond to fill.  The container is a super large flower pot...the bottom is about 20" in diameter.

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[washefuzzy]

The black and orange guy is beautiful Fishnut.

[Fishnut]

Thanks!  His/her name is Pumpkin and was 1/3 the size of the mostly white one in June.