>Almost no brood. less than a tennis ball.

Do me a favour and count the mites in a sampling of brood cells. 

I'm curious how the mites behave when the brood rearing is just getting going and still very limited.  

Will there be multiple mites in every cell?  Will the ratio of phoretic to mites in brood be the same as when there is lots of brood?

Some say all the mites pile into the first cells available, but I don't see how that can work out for the bees -- or the mites.

It's getting late here.  Good night and good luck.

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