Need help...new fish owner!

[pegs pond]

Hi all, I am new owner of 3 shubunkins 1.5 to 2 inches long that are currently eating tetra color flakes.  (and hopefully 4 of Traceys Wakin) Temp house is aquarium until pond is done.  Pond size aprox 11X20X2.5 with savio skimmer and waterfall wier (waterfall at top of 24 ft stream with 6 ft rise) 5000 gph pump, 2 inch pipe.  Okay stats out of the way come questions.  OH and I did a search on here of "food" and read all I could.

1. Are 7 fish enough to start with in this size of pond?

2. should I put some kind of net or screen on skimmer to keep fishies out of it?  if so what, and if I do how will it skim leaves?  Worried about it sucking them in!

3. food     I have had recommendation of Blackwell food and know that come cool water they need food with wheat germ, problem is it only comes in 5 lb bags ( how long will 5 lbs last for 7 small fish?) and it will only be about 1-2 months MAX until water temp is low so will have to change to wheat germ....now THAT I will probably use 5 pounds of...LOL.... and I have read that it doesn't keep well.........how long does it keep?  Do I need to do gradually switch to pellets?

4. in consideration of #3 would anyone on here sell me just a little bit of the pellets?  The ones for warm weather?

5.  Considering these are still small fish should I bring them inside for their first winter?  I am in Washington state and it gets cold here in winter, some sustained freezing and last year lots of snow!  I WILL make sure there is adequate oxygen with bubbler and/or heater for keeping hole in ice if it occurs.

Thanks Peg

[Pa Nancy]

!. That should be good. Don't want to start with too many at a time.

2. Definitely! If you think there is  a chance they will get sucked in. It happens all the time, and it's always the favorite that goes.

3. 5 lb.s of food will last quite a while for 7 little goldfish. Not sure how long it keeps. I had some go bad on me last year, it was so bad the fish wouldn't eat it. It was probably close a year old. I think it was from letting it sit out in the sun too much. I now try to remember to bring it in. Until the littlest ones get bigger I would feed a mixture of both flakes and pellets. Pellets IMHO puts better growth on them.

4. I already buy mine off a buddy.

5. They should all be fine in your weather outside, like you said just keep an opening in the ice.

[PHYLAL]

1.  No problem
2.  When my fish were first put in the pond (around three inches) they used the skimmer as an exercise machine.  They literally looked as if they were lining up to be sucked into the skimmer and then would come swimming out and the next one would go in.  After they grew a few inches this “playing” seemed to stop.  None were ever injured by there trips through the skimmer. 
3.  Fish food, like most processed food, looses nutritional value over time.  I do not know anything about the brand you mentioned.  Most information I have found usually recommends not keeping food over six months.  If the food is kept dry, cool, and in an airtight container it should easily last that long.  If kept in the refrigerator in something like Ziploc bags, it might even last longer.  I would think that if any food left over at the end of the feeding season were frozen it should last until next spring (I do not say this from actual experience). 
5.  I think your fish would survive outside over winter.  Keep a net over the pond to keep out    leaves and other debris and keep a hole in the ice.