Faith Andrews Bedford writes:
>...Having thought of that myself for the four years I lived in NYC but not
>being able to figure out how to get the sticky supers down the elevator (much
>less extract them in a NYC apt!)...
 
        I've been keeping bee for two seasons (5 hives this year) and have avoided the
possible/probable mess of extracting inside. I don't live in the city or in an apartment
building but my experience may suggest extracting alternatives.
 
        I live in a one family house and keep my bees next to the house on my deck. I have a
screen house (12'x12') that I have set up every summer for years on the same deck for sitting
or dining outside in the evening. The bee are on the east side of the house. The screen house
on the south side about 25` from the hives. When it is time to extract I do it inside the
screen house. Any bees that come in on the suppers just fly at the sceen and don't seem to
find there way out. So far I have extracted during a flow so the bees are mostly uninterested
in the honey and don't try to get in. Any honey that drips is easily hosed away. This avoids
sticky door handles and floors and an aggravated wife.
 
        It has worked great so far and I'll continue to do may extracting outside. Maybe some
year without a flow I'll have a robbing rampage story to tell.
 
        Regards,
                Jim Moore