August 3rd

The bees have been hanging out by the pool and on the filter.  The bees use the water to mix with the honey and cool their hive.  We still swim in the pool because they don't both us.

Bees getting water that drips from the sand filter

The bees in the smaller hive were hanging out by the entrance.  They do this to keep the hive cool.

Bees at the entrance

Close up of some bees

Just hanging out

The two hives from our new Bee Cam that we put up.

Later today we are going to treat for varroa mites.  We plan to use Hopguard because we don't need to wear a respirator to use it.  It also doesn't mess up the honey.  We will need to do the treatment every week for three weeks.  The mites don't kill the bees but they weaken the bees and they are more likely to get diseases.  Also by treating now the bees will have a couple of cycles of healthy brood with less varroa mites.  That should make it more likely that they will survive over the winter.

I also earned my Insect Study Merit badge last Tuesday.  There were a bunch of requirements I had to do.  One of the requirements was to observe a beehive or an ant colony.  I also had to make a scrapbook of different insects I saw.  I learned a lot about bees and other insects. Like the order for bees ants and wasps is Hymenoptera.