HI Bee Friends,

We are new beekeepers...having had a swarm come and adopt us
last year..which died due to our ignorance this spring. We bought
new bees this spring and now have three hives, having caught a swarm
that came from somewhere.

We live in SW Washington in rural Lewis County. We are wondering
if there are any other beekeepers on the List in this area or anyone
knows of any. We have two brood boxes on each hive and have
a third super on one and a forth and fifth on two others, with the bees
adding a super as soon as the bees start to work in a super.So far they
seem to be filling the bottom supers very well.  At what point do
we remove the filled supers?

Another question: I see in the supply catalog that we get that there
are extractor for the Pierco foundations that are listed separately.
Do the plastic foundations need to be handled differently  when
the honey is extracted than the wooden frames and duragilt or other
prewired foundations?

We don't have an extractor and are wondering what suggestions some
of you might have for new beekeepers like us who already have found
this is a more expensive "hobby" than we anticipated. For small beekeepers
are there any hand made extractor plans that are efficient?

I have learned many things from this list and thank you all for your contributions.

Another.question, I notice that since I put the Pierco foundations in the hives, that
I have what sounds like the bees "running" over the foundations which they don't seem
to do on the  wooden frames and duragilt or other foundation that I use. They do seem
to have begun to build in one of the hives on the Pierco.

One last question....in the Pacific NW...what is the recommend amount of honey left
for the bees for the winter?

Thanks,

Meri Burlingame

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