Mark, Were it my problem I would go the way Al recommended. Open up the dog house and carefully cut out one comb at a time. Brood combs can be placed in empty frames (lots of descriptions of this around) and honey combs harvested. With care you can do it gently enough to save the queen. The operation can be a fun learning experience. The only time I really cut combs from a sizable colony I was laying on by back under a shed and taking the combs out from almost over my face. That part was not a lot of fun, but coming out of the whole thing with a going hive was worth the effort. Just because. The possibility of mites is real enough, but that is true of any swarm any time. Plus if this hive has been in place for several years, who knows what you might have. Tom Mark Coldiron wrote: > > The question is, how is the best way to get the bees out of the dog house > and into a normal hive that I can work. -- "Test everything. Hold on to the good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21) Tom Elliott Chugiak, Alaska U.S.A. [log in to unmask]