> Tom Rinderer's unpublished work showed queens mated in mating nucs with irradiated combs go on to run hives that produce more honey and more frames of brood

Back in the 1970s, a large scale beekeeper told me that he was getting supers irradiated to control AFB. He noticed at the time that bees seemed to thrive on irradiated equipment. He was convinced that there is a pretty heavy load of pathogens in bee equipment. 

However, the issue is cost. We all want our bees to "do better" but there are many ways of optimizing their health, including sterilizing equipment. 

There is an old saying that "nothing straightens the colonies out as much as a good honey flow." Some migratory beekeepers' bees get many good honey flows each year. Other folks' bees are lucky to get three or four good weeks in an entire year.

PLB

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