Welcome to the Lane County Beekeepers Association!

The August Meeting is on 8/19/25, starting at 6:15pm

Join us for a Varroa Mite Lab including varroa biology, mite testing, treatment options, and viewing mites under a microscope. 

Wow! The hot days of August are here! Don’t be fooled into thinking that we have lots of summer left and that your hives will continue to grow and produce lots of honey. We are entering a period of the season called the “dearth” where nectar and pollen sources become scarce, and the bees must work especially hard to bring in resources. You may recognize that we are entering the dearth period by observing changes in your bees’ behaviors. They may sound louder, may be more aggressive, may be fighting with other colonies, trying to rob other hives, and generally going after any source of sweetness they can find. You may also see other insects like yellow jackets and bald face hornets trying to get into your hives when you open them. Try to limit the amount of time a hive is open, and don’t leave open frames or especially open honey around that encourages robbing.

By now, you should have pulled off the honey supers and you should be preparing your hives for winter. That means that you should be consolidating frames with brood into the bottom boxes, and pushing honey, nectar and pollen frames up to the upper boxes. The bees will need to have the resources close at hand when they hunker down for the winter.

This is also the time of the season when the “fat bees” are laid. That means the bees will develop with extra fat bodies that enable them to survive for 6-7 months. If a hive is low on resources (especially honey) you should begin feeding a 2:1 ratio of sugar to water to boost food supplies. Generally, you need at least one frame of honey for one frame of brood.

Then there is the issue of mites! As I mentioned in my message last month, even when the bee population has peaked, and is beginning to go down, the number of mites is still increasing. Now is the time to assess your mite load and take action to reduce it! Do an alcohol wash or sugar shake to count the mite levels and plan how you will address it. Most treatments should be done after honey supers have been removed, Some treatments have significant limitations on when and how to use the product. The bottom line is that you need a solid plan on how to deal with varroa mites, and execute that plan before they severely impact your bee population. 

Happy beekeeping!