I speculated the other day the much of the problem lies with the dual use of the honey bee, both for their honey, and beekeepers moving them around by truck to pollinate farmer’s fields.
If they were just used for honey, honey bees would be much less likely to share mite infestations with other hives.
My speculation was that there are about 20,000 different species of bee in nine families, and many of them would be just as suitable for pollination, alone, than would honey bees, even if they produced no honey at all. So beekeepers could keep both kinds of bees, travel around with the other kind of bee for pollination services, and keep the honey bees at home to make honey.
And because premium honey is based on just one kind of flower, like clover, mesquite, sunflower, etc., keeping the honey bees at home, near that particular crop, would likely reduce blending of flavors from other flowers.
Which ones would pollinate only? As I recall, bees do their thing with pollen - stuff it in their legs, then fly on to another blossom of the same variety.
Pollen is their protein. They need honey for carbs to complete their diet. Their stomachs have six shards.
Before they swarm, they gorge on honey - filling those sections. That's why swarms are sluggish and easy to hive.
One section will feed them per day. If their body uses up all six compartments (6 days), they will die of starvation.
Staying on a tree limb only a short while - before a scout targets a new home, you'll see that they had already begun to secrete wax.
I would imagine antibiotics are either sprinkled in the hive, dry, or given to them in sugar water.