> Wouldn't the separation come after the shaking has concluded? I was thinking of shaking diligently, allowing the liquid and the mites to sift through a #5 screen into a bottom jar, and then possibly an additional rinse to wash mites that stuck to the bees into the bottom jar. Then agitate the bottom jar and pour through a paper (coffee) filter. IMO, a paint shaker is far too violent and would shake the bees to pieces and murky the alcohol with guts and parts. The shaking action has to be just right, so that the mites are dislodged, but the bees remain intact. Otherwise the resulting mess of stingers and other parts makes counting unnecessarily difficult. Mites are easy to count in alcohol if it remains clear, and the alcohol can be reused several times before it needs to be settled. I'm sure Randy has a simple and effective design in mind. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm