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 Meri Burlingame: Moderator The Apostolic Prophetic List [log in to unmask] The Apostolic Prophetic Resource Page http://landru.myhome.net/cmjhburl/Resource.html The Handmaiden Ministry: Clothing the Bride [log in to unmask] available for speaking engagements Jennifer's Web site for Teens http://landru.myhome.net/cmjhburl/index.html.