need some help on winter feeding

[DM]

One of my hives was started from a swarm. They had the bottom deep full and the top had seven frames capped with honey for the winter. I have been reading that most hives may die in February through March if they do not have enough honey top get them through.

It is going to reach 50 degrees in the next couple of days here. I have been wondering if I should open them up and take out one of the empty frames and replace it with a NUC frame feeder full of dry sugar to get them through? This is my first winter with the bees and hope to get them through. Any thoughts, instructions or better ideas on how to feed them or will my idea work?

Thanks

Dennis

[Kathyp]

an easier and less disruptive way to feed dry sugar is to put it on newspaper over the frames or to put it on the inner cover if you use one.  if you use newspaper, cut a few small slit in the paper, or leave room around the edges for access. 
spray the sugar with a little water to moisten it.  they  need the moisture to process the sugar.  DO NOT soak it or the paper.

you can use a frame feeder with syrup, but that adds moisture to the hive.  you can feed from a communal feeder away from the hives, but if the weather is to cold, they may  not take the syrup, or it will add moisture to the hives if they store it uncured. 

[Scadsobees]

 Ditto on that advice.
Put an empty shallow or medium on top of that.  Just a single sheet of newspaper with a pile of sugar over top of the cluster.

This way you can also check them through the winter, the empty space gives you some room when tipping up the cover and that doesn't bother the bees too much.

[Davepeg]

Does the sugar need to be put into a blender first to make it a bit finer?  I seem to remember that you should never use confectionary sugar but that you need to process the sugar to make it easier for the bees to process.

[Michael Bush]

They will take it better if it's finer, but that is a lot of work.  They will eat it either way.