Bee Inspector

Today our local state bee inspector, Will Hicks,  and Mr. Ellis came over to look at the "New Hive".  I've had dead bees in front of the hive and Mr. Ellis and I thought there was more to it than just a change in the weather.  Well, sure enough, Will said I have varroa mites in this hive.  I will treat with Api-Life VAR which is one of the latest products available for the control of varroa using organic chemicals. It is 95% effective while leaving the least residue of any product available to beekeepers (legal or illegal).The active ingredients are the well proven Thymol plus Eucalyptus Oil, Menthol and Camphor.  Treatment is always applied after the honey harvest.

Will and I checking "New Hive"

And since Will was here, he checked all the hives. Saw the queen in Hive #4 and Nuc #1 - all the hives have plenty of honey stored and lots of bees.  Still have drones too. 
Put a super on Nuc #1 -took 2 frames of honey from each hive and moved to this super - so they have 4 empty frames.  Gives everybody a little more breathing space.  I'm still feeding and will continue until freezing weather or they stop taking the sugar syrup.

The Queen - Hive #4

And Will never (well, very seldom) puts on his suit but I did for the "New Hive".  It was cloudy and very windy - these girls were not happy. He got stung a couple of times but the other hives were fine - no problem with them - very gentle bees.
Just a note - I treated my bees with chemicals the first year of beekeeping.  Someone said that was what you were supposed to do, so I did it.  I have not used chemicals in my hives since that first year.  I really, really hate to use any type of chemical but have no choice with this situation.