Winter over???? need imput on feeding

[pegs pond]

Hi all, sorry I haven't posted in long time, but it's been Looooooooooooong winter here!  The pond finally unfroze!  and yesterday we turned the waterfall and filters back on..........ummm and it SNOWED today!  The deicer I bought worked brilliantly all winter and didn't cost hardly anything to run!  Hubby found one dead fish and then I sat out and did a head count and it was the only one that we lost.  Amazing!  I think it was one of the wakins (goldie) :'(  but not chubby he is still there. One of the wakins is not totally orange!  Tracey do they change colors?  When I got it it was orange with white spots.  The shubunkins look like they have grown, either that or Chubby has lost weight!  Also they were all swimming around and looked hungry.  I had hubby put aerator in just in case they were looking for oxygen but it really looked like they were looking for food!  I only have an aquarium aerator and don't like to leave it out there to long, do raise it off the ground and then cover it but when turned the waterfall on took it out as figure that will give them more air.  The water temp is only 42-48.  Some have told me to not feed until water temp 50?  I got magazine on ponding today and it says to feed wheat germ food when water is above 40??? I sure would hate to loose them now!  Thanks in advance.  And please cross fingers for some warmer weather for us in Washington!
Peggy

[KatFish]

There's winter food for cooler temps, and summer food for higher temps.  Just make sure your water is warm enough before you feed (check your bag of food for temps).  Have fun!

[marla]

glad most all made it through your winter, we are still froze over here even with the last couple days of odd almost 50* weather.  I never start feeding till water temps stay at about 55* that includes nightime.  Have a net handy and scoop out the uneaten food, the fish will let you know if they are hungry..if they don't seem interested wait till the water warms up more.