I live in zone 5 (southern NH). So my pond water freezes several inches every winter. My pond is about 4 feet deep, by 17 feet long by 12 feet wide. My fish over winter in the pond.

Under normal operations, I pump my pond water up to a 2 foot water fall which collects in a pool that is 1 foot deep, 3 feet wide, and 4 feet long. From the pool, the water trickles over a rock formation into the pond. The drop from the rocks to the pond is about 4 inches. However, because of where I live, I do not run my pump over the winter months.

Every year, I clean-out and empty the pool area because it accumulates about 1-2 inches of muck during the summer. This year, as I was emptying it, I noticed movement which turned out to be a dozen tadpoles. I decided to relocate them to the larger pond area. The pool area is now empty of water and muck.

So here is my question. Would the tadpoles have survived the zone 5 winter if I had left in the muck?

Thanks in advance to anyone who comments.
Gerry

Do you mean in the muck w/ water? If not, then noo way! If thats what you meant then probally not if it's only 1' deep, the whole thing would most likely be a big block of ice! It depends though, the smaller pool may not freeze over completly, inwhich case the tadpoles could survive (as long as there was a hole in the ice)

It's not likely that the tadpoles would have survived. I assume there was little water left so it would probably freeze solid. Not only that but the oxygen levels in mud are extremely low so they would have suffocated even if it were summer. It's good that you moved them to the larger pond as long as they're large enough to not be eaten by the fish.