>But that's just for starters - if you go back the next day and follow the
>same process on the same colonies, you will get different numbers of mites

Yes but how different?  10-20% or order of magnitude?
Just for grins yesterday I did  alcohol wash samplings on 4 different colonies, from frame # 2, 4, 6. Results here(in percent):
hive #  
1       5.6   6.3   5.6
2       7.3   8      9.6
3       2      2.3    3
4      4.3    5.3    5

Not conclusive but gives me a bit of confidence that the sampling method itself works.
So do you think the sampling technique is bogus, or that the mites are 'clustered' in certain areas of the colony and move around from day to day?
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