Hello Harpo,
That first extraction will be very exciting, almost as much fun as your first cutout. Did you extract today? If so, tell us about it. If not yet, then I can give you some from-experience hints.
First of all, like with many things, it's better to be conservative till you build up a bit more experience and see how things will go. Unless you are sure they are on a tremendous honey flow and the hive numbers are decent, it won't hurt to leave a couple of honey frames in there. You can always take them out and extract later when you are sure they are still bringing in honey. You can freeze them then and extract when you have another Extraction Day.
Same with making a triple-decker. If you are going to extract right now, there is no reason to add another super. You are giving them twice as much work and more space than they need. The only benefit would be if you broke your extractor turning arm and couldn't extract for 6 weeks. Another super would give them enough space to put the honey in.
The answer to your question is very simple: they definitely prefer the drawn out and extracted stickies to plain foundation. You do risk an abscond if you put in a whole super of plain foundation I've heard. The reasons you might put in plain foundation are: you are short on drawn comb and if they are on a flow might draw it out quickly; or for a swarm etc. I did put in 8 of 10 plain foundations about a month ago when I was converting from wax to plastic, and because they were on a flow and had good numbers, they mostly drew it out in a week. The newer split we put on 10 plain frames, more of a risk, but it helped being on a flow. You can do a combination, and keep a few stickies in the freezer for emergencies (no need to clean them up first if you have freezer space). So yes, you can just take the stickies and plonk them back. (Yes, Allen, you need nerve there if you have a mad hive like I once had. As the stickies approached them, they defied the laws of gravity and bombed me upwards from the depths). I think Eco is talking about if you live a long way from your hives and can't return the stickies the same or next day.
I had to look at the map to see where you are. I see it's near Mudgee. I know and know of quite a few beekeepers at Mudgee, so it must be a real good area. You should be right whatever you decide to do. I rode my bike up Queens Pinch Rd, and down again to get my gears fixed, then up again. I was given a bum steer and ended on a road they told me there's never been a bike rider on. To make it interesting, I went to places Henry Lawson wrote about or lived at, which are many there, such as Sofala, and Ilford, the scene of the man who went mad in the bush and kept trying to build a house for his dead wife (The House That Was Never Built). Someone gave me 6 peaches from a roadside stall near Ilford, which probably kept me alive for the hardest 3 days of my life on the road from Hill End to Orange. At every crest I had to take the gear off the bike, walk the bike up and go back for the panniers. Then the dog decided 4 o'clock was late enough and laid down firmly in the mud. What a brilliant companion. There at the side of the road were the most beautiful rock pools we both cooled off in. To make a long story short, hill end is NOT the end of the hills.
Lone