I'm trying something different this year and just for fun, thought I'd toss out the idea to see what people think.  So don't be afraid to jump in with your thoughts.  Hopefully we can all gain some insight from a discussion. 

Each year I have a few huge colonies that are amazing to see and produce lots of honey, but they are also the most difficult to successfully winter because they produce tons of mites as well.  Right now I have six colonies that have five boxes on them.  One deep and four mediums.  I don't use queen excluders so over the spring I have pulled the fresh new comb/honey up to the top box.  (no, not all these boxes were added at once)  The fourth box is about half full of honey and brood and the first, second and third boxes are full of bees.  Imagine, a deep and two and a half mediums full of bees!!  That's pretty cool in itself!  I know from past experience, at the sites where these colonies are located, that a significant amount of backfilling will take place between now and the end of July - mostly clover nectar.  All that to say I don't have worries about having enough stores put away if I remove the top box of honey.

Seems logical that I could remove honey in the top box soon and begin some early mite treatments.  (I've done counts and these hives run anywhere from 3 percent to 6 percent.)  Hopefully this would make it easier to get a handle on mites in August. 

I welcome thoughts and ideas.