>
> >I think it's important to use standardized materials and methods to do
> any type of varroa sampling.


I prefer queen cage thin black wire screen--far easier to work with than is
1/8" hardware cloth.  But hardware cloth will do.  As will tulle fabric.

The key point is to avoid shaking the washer up and down, as this results
in roughly 15% of the mites being trapped in the bees during the final
drain down.  I've written to Veta to tell them this (I've been testing
their prototypes).

A swirling action works best, although side to side, or slight up and down,
agitation can also work, provided that the action makes *all* the bees
move, and does not lift any washed mites back up into the bees during
agitation.

The above suggestions come from someone who is performing up to 100 washes
a week for the past several weeks.

BTW, I demonstrated alcohol wash and sugar shake to a group last weekend.
Hot day.  From a single homogenized sample of bees, the alcohol wash
recovered 26 mites, the sugar shake 9 (in previous comparisons, I typically
see ~70% recovery from the sugar shake, compared to 100% from a proper
alcohol wash).  And the sugar shake still left a large proportion of the
bees apparently dead--perhaps due to the heat.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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