1. August is a hot month and can be very hard on your bees. It is also vital that bees receive the correct treatment to insure winter survival. Try to finish extracting your honey by the first of August. Many fall flowers make some pretty nasty honey. We usually leave the fall honey for the bees.
2. One of the most important factors in a successful overwintering is a strong queen. Replace all old and failing queens in August.
3. Check and control Varroa. In August Varroa populations can double each month. Don't let your bees die!
4. Hives that have less than 4 frames of bees in August should be combined with stronger hives.
5. Melt and process wax cappings from your extraction. You may freeze cappings for melting at a later date. Freezing should destroy any wax moth larvae that may be present. You can leave “wet” cappings exposed for foraging bees to clean before processing the wax. Donʼt attract wax moths by leaving cappings exposed for more than three days.
6. Return “Wet” frames to the the hives for the bees to clean.
Store cleaned supers in a cool and dry area. Place a super on a newspaper and stack two (2) more supers on top of it. Cover the top super (the 3rd one) with an 8” square piece of paper (or a paper plate) and pour six (6) tablespoons of paradichlorobenzene (PDB) moth crystals (NOT MOTHBALLS) on it (PDB can be purchased at most hardware stores). You can also pour the moth crystals into a clean nylon (knee high) stocking, tie it closed, and place on top of every third super. Continue stacking supers and moth crystals in this manner. When finished stacking the supers, cover the very top super with a hive cover over the moth crystals and newspaper. 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. Allow supers to air out before returning them to your hives in the spring.
7. Provide a good supply of water in this hot dry month. Keep hives well Ventilated by using screened bottom boards or slightly cracking the lid.
