Beekeeping: Early Mite Treatment

So before we put our honey supers on, Ash decided to do a quick treatment for mites.  A friend and fellow beekeeper had some mite trouble already this year and we thought we'd avoid any problems since it will be few weeks before we do another big hive check.

Afterward, we put on our queen excluders and honey supers and on our newest hive, we added another deep:

Since I spent 20 minutes staring at the openings of the hives waiting for the mite treatments, I got an up-close-and-personal look into bee activity.  I watched as bees came out to defend their hive from little beetle-like intruders.  They tried biting them, and then ended up pushing them off the edge of the platform.  Since it was evening (best time to treat for mites because you catch the largest percentage of bees at home inside the hive) I watched the bees stand on their "front porch", put their tushies in the air and fan their wings like crazy.  This was their way of calling bees to come home by wafting their queen's specific pheromone scent.  I still enjoy helping Ash with the hives, although it is a bit stressful for me when one of our girls gets smashed between hive boxes.  I think I'm too soft-hearted to be a super efficient beekeeper.  ;)