J. Waggle wrote:

>Also, as mentioned earlier by a poster, a brood break after swarming,
>potentially 3 to 4 weeks can perhaps contribute to mite reduction.
>But in my observations, most varroa invasion of cells during swarming
>season is concentrated very heavily in drone cells which take about 24
>days to hatch, basically carrying most mites through most of the broodless
>period.

* In Europe, "artificial swarming" is considered an effective method of
controlling mites without chemicals:

From: www.defra.gov.uk

* Biotechnical Methods – The use of methods based on bee husbandry to reduce
the mite population through physical means alone.

* Artificial swarm

1. Move parent colony to one side of the original site, at least 4 metres away.

2. Place a second hive containing newly drawn combs and the queen (alone) on
the original site to house the artificial swarm. Foragers will return to
this hive creating the artificial swarm.

3. After 9 days remove all but one queen cell from the parent colony. The
cell can be protected in a queen cell nursery cage which prevents the virgin
queen from leaving the hive to mate, but allows worker bees access to care
for her.

4. After 3 weeks all brood in the parent colony will have hatched. Transfer
two bait combs of unsealed brood from the artificial swarm to the parent
colony, and when they are capped, remove and destroy them. At this stage,
cull the virgin and introduce a new queen to the parent colony.

5. The old queen in the swarm can later be removed and the two colonies
reunited.

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