Syrup is the main form of feeding. It is used to build winter stores, to bridge a dearth, and to establish new colonies.

When to feed

• Autumn: Completing the winter stores. The most important feeding of the year
• Spring: If stores run out before the first flow
• During a dearth: When the scale shows weight falling
• New colonies and nucs
• Queen rearing: Feeding the cell builder during an interruption

Thick or thin

• Thicker syrup is used for building winter stores; the bees have less water to evaporate
• Thinner syrup stimulates brood rearing and resembles a nectar flow

The distinction matters in autumn: stimulating brood late in the season works against wintering.

Timing in autumn

Feed early enough that the bees can process and cap the syrup. Uncapped syrup left in the combs can ferment.

Late feeding also fails because the colony can no longer evaporate the water at low temperatures.

Robbing

Feeding is one of the commonest triggers of robbing.

• Feed inside the hive, never in the open
• Feed in the late afternoon
• Spill no syrup
• Reduce entrances during the feeding period
• Feed all colonies at the same time; uneven feeding puts weak ones under pressure

Drowning

A feeder without a ladder or float costs hundreds of bees per filling. A floating grid, cork, straw or a rough inner surface prevents it.

Where the stores end up

The cluster moves upward. Stores must sit above it, not beside it — a colony can starve with full frames two combs away.

The boundary

Do not feed with supers on. The bees process the syrup and store it; what comes out is not honey.

This limit is unconditional, legally and ethically.