Baby, It's Hot Outside!

Summer this year in East Texas has been brutal, and for the first time since I started my beekeeping endeavor, I'm struggling to keep up with the food weight on my hives. They are like a bunch of teenagers raiding the food pantry after school. It's been a truly eye-opening experience to go through such a severe drought with livestock, and I'm hoping that after today's rain of 7.5", we've turned a corner in the weather. The nice thing is that my mite counts are low enough for me to wait to treat until September, and I've chosen Apiguard as my go-to for my fall treatment. It's easy to apply, great for this weather, and helps with varroa mites, tracheal mites, and chalkbrood. If only it would kill under the cappings; oh well, 3 out of 4 isn't too bad.  

I'm excited about our bee club's upcoming fall seminar and guest speaker, Jeff Horchoff, "Mr. Ed." He called me today to check in, and we ended up discussing how little our bees really care about what their hive boxes look like from the outside. Why do you ask? Because he's coming to our area a day ahead of the event and wants to go bee diving, and if you've seen any pics of my hives, you know that nothing matches other than my migratory lids. And I guess I can't shake the feeling that when you have a guest coming to visit, everything needs to be spic and span. So, I've set him up with a bee friend to spend the day out in her fully matching color-coded mowed outyard because that's how she rolls. Thanks, Meagan! If you are interested in the event or want to meet Mr. Ed in person, you can register at netbabeeks.org. Tickets are $25, and lunch is included. You can also check out Mr. Ed's latest youtube video here  https://youtu.be/6LYEOe6OtsU. He's a hoot.