Eric,
 
Similar principles are applied in a method advocated in the UK - thus: make  
an artificial swarm and put the queen on a frame of open brood on the old 
site,  completing the box with foundation.  If you add the QE and super of drawn  
comb you might get some extra honey if there's a flow as the bees will have  
nowhere but the super to put it.  The flying bees, complete with phoretic  
mites, rejoin the queen.  During the next few days the mites enter the open  
cells.  You remove and destroy that comb when the cells are sealed.
 
The parent colony raises/ is given a queen who should take some time to  mate 
and come into lay. During this time the old queen's brood hatches, complete  
with mites who have nowhere to go for a while. When the new queen starts to 
lay,  the mites will be keen to enter the new brood as soon as it is at the 
optimum  stage for them. The beekeeper waits until the first comb is sealed and 
removes  and destroys it.
 
The colonies can then be run on separately or re-united if that would be  
more advantageous.  You will have got rid of a high proportion of the mites  at a 
cost of 2 frames of brood; drawn new brood combs; re-queened; obtained the  
extra bees from running 2 queens for a while, and possibly gained an extra 
super  of honey while the foundation in the brood box was being drawn.
 
Chris



   

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