Peter, I euthanize colonies with rubbing alcohol. It is the simplest, least expensive and most humane method of euthanizing a honey bee colony. I passed this euthanasia method along to Paul Kelly at the University of Guelph in Ontario...seems they too had been looking for a quick, accessible and humane method (in Canada it is hard to get dry ice, and I do not like the dish soap method: it gives the bees a long, slow, gruesome death that takes days).

The winning approach here is to have AFB and EFB test kits in your beekeeping bag...you can then test any hinky brood right then and there and if necessary, euthanize right then and there. No waiting for results, no guessing, and thus no window for spread of infection.

Twice I have discovered AFB in my apiary and those colonies need to be euthanized ASAP before drifting bees spread the condition. I will also use it on an EFB affected hive if the hive is too weak to put through the medication-shook swarm-medication protocol. In the case of either EFB or AFB trash/burn all the stores (honey, pollen, bee bread) and brood. If trashing, ensure bees cannot find the trash! I am fortunate I can send drawn empty comb for irradiation in the spring small beekeeper days at our nearby Iotron facility. But I scrape and bleach all the woodenware (including frames sans foundation) in a 1 part bleach to 5 parts water solution for 20 minutes. That will kill AFB spores and you get your equipment back in circulation quickly that way...a big deal if you don't want to buy all new equipment for your shook swarms/replacement bees.

For some beekeepers, being able to salvage the woodenware gains their compliance. In our bee-dense area we do not want someone running a hospital yard, with an active foulbrood case or two, which poses a threat of infection via drift/robbing to the rest of us. But beekeepers with only one or two hives will often do this...they are understandably reluctant to euthanize all their bees, and hope they can fix them. The bleaching method gives them a quick and cheap method of cleaning up their equipment so it does not remain an infective source.

I use the big bottle of Walmart brand rubbing alcohol (about CAN$3.50). 

Method:

-At dusk or dawn, when all foragers are in the hive, quietly stuff the hive entrance. Ensure the stuffing is secure and no bees can escape.
-if your bottom board is screened, put in the mite counting sheet
-quietly remove the outer and inner cover. 
-carefully set down the inner cover, bee side up, without disturbing the bees
-with a quick but steady hand, pour a generous amount of the rubbing alcohol down each seam of bees, being sure to reserve the last 1/2 cup of rubbing alcohol in the bottle...this is for the inner cover bees
-hold the inner cover in one hand, tilted over the open hive, bee side up
-carefully pour the remaining 1/2 c. of rubbing alcohol over the bees on the inner cover, letting any dead/soaked bees fall off into the colony.
-replace inner then outer cover
-ensure any upper entrances are sealed
-leave the hive for 15 minutes minimum, sealed up. I leave it overnight.

When you open up the hive all the bees will be dead. You can shake them off into a bag for burning or burying.

Empty comb can be rinsed off and reused after irradiation.

Nobody likes to kill their bees, but sometimes you have no choice. This method is quick and as humane as possible.

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