> And the stated goal is to preserve the precious ***drawn comb*** - it's not about the boxes.

Yes, James. I was using the term "boxes" the way beekeepers do. I really the value is not in the box. My calculation of the cost included not just the irradiation included the packaging, the transportation costs, and the cost of labor of packaging, loading, unloading, etc. 

In our case, it was to eradicate chalkbrood. We installed about 100 packages on irradiated equipment and they did fine, until the chalkbrood came back. My conclusion was that it is ubiquitous in the environment. Like I said, phosphine has been discussed already.

PLB

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