I’m genuinely surprised by this and wonder how is this possible. One of the appealing things of the EasyCheck product, when I saw it last year, was that it was sturdy and enclosed. The thin plastic cups always manage to get themselves damaged and the tule snagged & ripped on the hive tool, etc. When I started doing alcohol washes I was surprised that I couldn’t find any vendor who would offer a tool to do this - I just want something that will survive repeated trips to the hives banging in my tool box with all the other crap I lug with me.

What I don’t understand, from the physical point of view, is where the problem might be? Bees, check. Liquid, check. Shake, mites get loose, drop to the bottom. Count & report. Where in this simple equation would the EasyCheck fail? Looking at its holes, they don’t look any smaller than the eyes of a tule netting. The thickness of the plastic? Buy how would it block mites from falling, if the whole time you are swirling and shaking?

Any materials science/physics experts out there who could shed some theories?

Przemek

P.S.
Not all vendors carry it; I found it in Brushy Mountain’s catalog, but not Betterbee (I’ve checked only the East coast).

> On Mar 24, 2017, at 2:06 PM, randy oliver <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
> 
> re the EasyCheck mite washer:
> 
> I recently tested it Adam.  I did multiple washes of the same sample of
> bees and mites.  I got different recovery numbers each time, often with
> poor recovery. 

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