> do most of you stay away from the fume board/bee quick?
I have never tried one. I have smelled Beego and honey robber. One smells like vomit and the other like cherry flavored vomit. I've smelled Bee-quick, which smells like benzaldehyde (marachino cherries or almond extract)
> I have to admit - I am a little leery only because I am worried about fouling up the honey - even a little.
Me too.
>Also - for the bee escapes - Do I put a top board under the bottom most super and install the bee escape there? And what about all the bees – will they be bearded up on the outside?
I don't like moving the boxes twice and putting an escape under them while on the hive requires removing all the supers, adding the escape and replacing the supers. So I just put a bottom board down, put the escape on top and stack the supers on there. I might put supers from several hives on the stack until it's a comfortable height to work. Then I put another bee escape on top. Sometimes when you steal supers there's not enough room for the bees in the hive. I put an empty super or two on until the bees fit.
>I am interested in what you posted. So I remove all the supers and place them behind the hive before dark?
Yes.
> Do I place them on a bottom board?
I don't. I lay all of the boxes on their ends with the bottom and top open so they eaisly abandon the box.
> Do the bees make their way back to the main hive?
Yes.
> And how many bees will have to be brushed off?
That always depends on the weather, the bees and if there was a patch of brood in the super.
>I really don't want to mess with each individual frame.
But, if you extract in your kitchen like I do, you will ALWAYS have to mess with each indvidual frame somewhere to brush off the stragglers.