Beekeeping Tips for August

1. Finish extracting honey in the first part of August. Fall flowers do not usually make good tasting honey. So, leave fall honey for the bees.

2. Melt wax cappings from your extracting. You may freeze cappings for melting at a later date since that will destroy any wax moth larvae that may be present. You can leave wet cappings exposed for foraging bees to clean before processing the wax, but donʼt attract wax moths by leaving cappings exposed for more than three days.

3. Return wet frames to the supers on the hives for the bees to clean.

4. Store cleaned supers in a cool and dry area. Store them with moth crystals as mentioned in the July tips.Check for any cracks that would allow wax moth entry – tape them up if questionable.Check the stack monthly to determine if more moth crystals are needed. Once the crystals have evaporated, the protection is gone. Keep the stack airtight.

5. August is the time to treat for varroa. You need strong brood to go through the winter. Varroa mite indication can be from using sticky boards, powdered sugar method, or checking drone larvae. For an accurate count use an alcohol wash – if the varroa count is 5 per 100 bees, treat immediately.

6. Check the strength of each colony, as a weak colony can become a harbor for wax moths or small hive beetles (SHB). Combine colonies if there are weak ones.

7. Keep the bee yard clean. Help prevent SHB by removing burr comb from the yard.

8. Provide a consistent supply of water in this hot dry month. Keep hives well ventilated.

9. If there are not at least two full frames of honey in the brood box, start feeding sugar water. Bees can still starve in August.

10. Consider re-queening in the fall for a healthy hive entering the winter.