The main flow is over in the Midlands, and the next six weeks decide how your colonies come through winter. The bees being raised right now are the ones that will raise your winter bees. If mites damage this generation, you will not see the bill until October, and by then it is too late to pay it.

So start with a count, not a guess. Take about half a cup of bees — roughly 300 — from a frame of open brood, where the mites are, and do an alcohol wash or a sugar roll. Nine mites in that sample is three per hundred bees, and that is the point where most keepers in this climate treat without waiting. Heading into fall you want to be under two. Check two or three hives in the yard rather than one, and check the strong ones too; a booming colony with a heavy mite load is the one that collapses first.

Plan the treatment before you need it. Nearly everything you might use has to go on after the honey supers come off, and most products have a temperature window printed on the label — some cannot be used in the heat we get in August, others will not work once it cools. Read the label and work backward from the day you plan to pull honey. The treatment that works is the one already sitting on the shelf when the supers come off.

The dearth is here, and with it comes robbing. Reduce entrances on anything weak, spill no syrup in the open, and do not leave wet supers where bees can find them. Work your hives quickly and close them up; an inspection that drags on in August can start a robbing frenzy that ends a small colony in an afternoon.

Watch for small hive beetle, which does its worst damage in exactly this weather. The defense is a strong colony on the right amount of space. If the bees cannot patrol every frame, the beetles will find the ones they are not covering, so tighten up boxes on any colony that has shrunk. Traps help. Slimed frames need to come out of the yard entirely, not stack in the corner of the shed.

Keep water close by. In this heat a colony hauls a surprising amount of it, and if you do not give them a reliable source they will find your neighbor's pool or dog bowl and you will hear about it. Shade through the afternoon and a way for air to move through the hive are worth more than most gadgets sold for the purpose. Bees hanging out on the front in the evening are usually just cooling off, not preparing to leave.

Look at your queens while there is still time to fix a problem. A solid, even brood pattern now means a colony that can build winter bees; a spotty one means trouble that gets harder to solve every week. Replacing a failing queen in late July or early August still leaves time for her to lay a generation before the cold. Waiting until September rarely does.

Swarming is mostly behind us, though a crowded hive can still throw a late one, so give the bees room where they need it. And keep an eye on stores as the dearth deepens. A light colony fed now stays ahead; a light colony found in October is a much bigger job.