Sunday, June 5th, we will be hosting the annual MAKC Meeting.

IF your not a member of the club please contact us and we can let you know how you can join.  Being part of a koi club is a great way to learn from others experiences, special seminar events, special koi sales and a chance to see fantastic koi at the annual koi show.

Below is information on Sunday’s event via the MAKC club’s website.

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Breeding koi is not an exact science.

All though the females in Tuesday’s breeding dropped a lot of eggs, Mat thought from the start that things didn’t look right with the eggs from either female. We continued with the eggs, as there have been times we have had success with the eggs even when conditions weren’t ideal.

However, with neither set showed signs of hatching, Mat decided today to call it quits today with both sets of eggs.

A breeder could drive themselves crazy questioning why a breeding didn’t work. Was it the mini heat wave we are experiencing….was water quality off…was it because it was the first breeding of the female…no way to get the answer

All we can do is clean up and set up for the next female in line for breeding.

Next week it all starts again…

The fry have been moved out to the mud ponds and the next breeding sets have been placed together.

Tamara is being bred to 2 of the males we used last  year with her

This is last year’s picture of Tamara, but you can see in the picture above..SHE IS TANK!

Male Chuck

Male Kevin

2nd female being bred tonight is a showa, Renee

Renee

Male #1

Male #2

Male #3

Male #4

Last week’s eggs started to hatch on Sunday and by Monday we had a full hatch. Both sets of spawns had an excellent hatch.

Each breeding set in this  1st spawn will get 2 mud ponds for the fry.

I got this picture of the fry right before they were collected to be moved into the mud ponds

This was a gentle move to the mud ponds!

We had success Tuesday night. Both breeding set had spawned.

Mat came to the farm early at sunrise to see how things went. They were still in the middle of the spawn when he arrived

koi Spawning  (i’m trying to get this video link working)

Both tanks were covered with eegs

Today marks the start of our 2011 breeding.

Hermy is up first- paired with 2  sanke males

Hermy – Female

Male #1

Male #2

For those of you following our breeding, you may notice the two males we are breeding to Hermy in 2011 are the same 2 males we bred to our Fischbach Sanke in 2010…

*The second female to be bred is our first timer-  Gin Rin Sanke

Bred at the Nisei Koi Farm in 2006

Meet Carolyn!!

Carolyn aswell is being bred to 2 males

Male #1 Long Fin Kin Matsuba

Male #2 Heisei Nishiki

Bred at the Nisei Koi Farm in 2007

umm… Interesting mix….

The weather here on the farm hasn’t been the best, but we can’t delay breeding. We have set up indoor spawning tanks.

I had to take these pictures from the deck above, not wanting to disturb the parents.

We are working on bringing back a news letter for our interested customers.

There is a new link on the home page of our website that you can use to sign up for the News Letter.

This is a seperate registration from the website.

The News Letter sign up can be found on the right bar of the homepage, right above the payments we accept.

Thank you for your feed back, we hope you enjoy the News Letter.

Alot has been happening on the farm the past few weeks.

The 555 event has been a big focus – and there is still FANTASTIC KOI AVAILABLE!

The farm opened this past Saturday to our retail customers. The farm now will be open on Saturdays 10am to 3pm – no appointment needed.

IF you can’t make it down on a Saturday, please give us a call and we can schedule a weekday appointment. Appointments are needed on the week days due to our farming schedule..YES! we need to make the koi!  So, to be sure we have a staff member available to serve you, please just contact us ahead of time.

With everything going on, it also is time for koi to be returning to the mud ponds.

The first batch of Tosai went to mud last week.

As always, all koi are measured and photographed as they leave the greenhouse and are moved back into the mud ponds. This year, Mat has to be extra strict to what koi he decides he will grow on. By raising jumbo tosai this winter in the greenhouse, we have to look ahead to next winter when deciding the number of koi to keep. Anticipating great growth this summer, we have to besure we have enough water volume in the greenhouses to hold these large koi through next winter.

50 koi have been placed in the long pond, with the largest at 15 inches. Yes, these are from last years production!

I know some of you are questioning the long pond usage, give us a bit longer and we will post were all koi have been placed as well as when they are scheduled to be harvested.

Below are some of the koi that made the cut and have returned to the mud ponds for another year of growth.

May 5th will be our 555 event.

The koi are all selected and the final processing of the koi is being done.

I will be posting all 55 koi with Mat’s grading of each koi, on the blog for everyone to review- shortly,  prior the event.

The event will be done through our online auction at http://www.qualitykoi.com/component/bids/?task=listauctions using the “Buy Now Option”.

I have posted a few practice items up for auction so everyone can learn our auction software. As items are “bought” i will repost them until  May 4th.

Please do not worry, no payment will be taken. I process every transaction manually, so i can assure you will not be charged for anything, you will not be buying the farm!

If you have any questions about how to buy an item in the auction or any questions about the event please contact me prior May 5th.

Again, full details of the event will be posted with pictures of all 55 koi, shortly.

Yesturday the team managed to get 35 koi for the 555 event photographed and measured.

The ment back here at the farm bright and early to select the remaining koi