Aaron wrote:
Feral hives I have known are usually isolated enough that drifting is
not a parameter in spreading mites

Peter:
Not drifting, but how about robbing? Since bees can fly over 5 miles,
I wonder how far an escaped swarm can ever be from an apiary.
Presumably the feral hive escaped from an apiary to begin with... and
I have read that colonies dying of mites will leave the nest and move
in with healthy bees...