The Best Pet

-Posted by Isaac

Just when I blogged about Mason having virtually no interest in bees, he latched on to the idea of helping dad. "It's about SCIENCE, Mason!"

Or maybe he simply liked the repetition and practice with his counting. We spent several evenings placing nearly 3000 frames in supers. 

Even Maizy pitched in. (In spurts) 

Bridger, not so much. But somebody had to manage the operation.

We had a lot to get done:

Mason also helped in conducting a little experiment.
Dan Williams, our bee club president has been posting about the thermal retention of hive bodies when wrapped in tar paper. (With some amazing results.) I had to see it for myself.

This is black stretch wrap instead of tar paper.
Thank you, Jim North

 Mason inserts the temperature probes.

 And sure enough, after about two hours in the sun the hive bodies wrapped in black had gained nearly eight degrees.

With a living cluster of bees, those precious degrees would surely be retained and appreciated.

Maybe we'll get smart next winter.

Beekeeping must have crept into Mason's thinking. One day last week he brought this home from school:

That's my boy!

Maybe his grammar could use some work, but he has already surpassed his father in handwriting and spelling. (Thank you, Spell-check.)

We were talking about what bees eat and how they make honey (Huny). The word "nectar" came up several times and I realized (I think) he's probably getting nectar confused with the protein patties we're putting on the hives this week.

Yes, bees eat nectar, but this time of year they relish protein. The winter pollen stores are diminished and they need some protein muscle to build up a healthy brood nest.

Ummm... Not too bad!
So bees eat Neptr and boys eat Neptr.

A kid'll eat Neptr too.
Wouldn't you?