To fee or not to feed...?

[RustyUPNY]

Quick back ground...  I installed two nucs late April.  And put hive top feeders on both.  Both have second deeps on them for about a month.  I pull the feeders off of both a little over a week ago because the one hive was swarming (maybe from over feeding?).  At the time of my last inspection (10ish days ago) both hives were drawing out the frames in the second deeps but had a long ways to go. 

I have in the mean time picked up some enterrnce feeders.  Should I go ahead and put them in now with a few holes in the lid to help stimulate comb building, or should I wait until I have time for an inspection (Sunday) to see if they are really needed?

[Michael Bush]

I do not feed if they have adequate stores.  I do not feed when there is nectar coming in.  Feeding incessantly is the main cause of swarming especially in new packages or nucs.  The queen runs out of places to lay and it sets the colony back because the queen can lay and they can't raise bees...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#when

[RustyUPNY]

I do not feed if they have adequate stores.  I do not feed when there is nectar coming in.  Feeding incessantly is the main cause of swarming especially in new packages or nucs.  The queen runs out of places to lay and it sets the colony back because the queen can lay and they can't raise bees...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#when

Thank you for the response. I am struggling with multiple different ideas around feeding. I don't want to short change them, but also don't want to contribute to their swarming.

[GSF]

I wouldn't use an entrance feeder because of the robbing it encourages. If you ever see one get robbed out you'll do everything you can to prevent it in the future.

[RustyUPNY]

I wouldn't use an entrance feeder because of the robbing it encourages. If you ever see one get robbed out you'll do everything you can to prevent it in the future.

Also a concern of mine... My local bee keepers meeting yesterday evening gave me the idea I should keep feeding until the frames are all drawn, however I A. Don't want to stimulate more swarming and B. Don't want to cause robbing by using the enterince feeder. So many opinions :). I wish I had 30 different hives to try all this out on.

[Michael Bush]

>My local bee keepers meeting yesterday evening gave me the idea I should keep feeding until the frames are all drawn

It is a commonly held erroneous belief among US beekeepers...

[bwallace23350]

I read online somewhere that it makes the bees weaker to overfeed them. Let them naturally find their own food unless in a starvation situation.

[RustyUPNY]

Currently sitting on my hands anxiously awaiting free time during mid day to get in there and see what's what. Thanks guys!

[jalentour]

Do what M. Bush says.

[Nugget Shooter]

After a new package or nuc gets rolling does the no feeding still apply during a dearth period? Or is this a time to feed?

[Psparr]

If they have no stores I would.

[Michael Bush]

>After a new package or nuc gets rolling does the no feeding still apply during a dearth period? Or is this a time to feed?

That would depend on their stores.  Feeding in a dearth had even more risk than feeding when there is no dearth but letting them starve is never useful.

[Nugget Shooter]

Thank you....