You said "feed a little" or implied you were only going to feed a jar or so of sugar syrup. When starting a new colony in April or May on all foundation, it is BEST to CONTINUOUSLY feed 1:1 sugar syrup ) 1 pound sugar dissolved in 1 pint water for about 4-5 MONTHS (September) in order to get all the foundation completely drawn, a large population of worker bees built ready to go into the winter STRONG, and a supplement to the 70 pounds of winter stored honey that the bees will need. FAR TOO MANY NEW BEEKEEPERS don't feed enough, and they either lose the bees or they are very weak. They will only eat about 50 pounds of sugar which costs about $15. NEVER, NEVER try to get frames drawn with only 9 frames in the hive body. What a king size mess you will have, because you violated "bee space". ALWAYS start with 10 frames of foundation TIGHTLY PACKED TOGETHER (leaving any space leftover by the wall of the hive body); then after, the foundation is drawn into drawn comb, you can cut back to 9 frames if you like. If you have not bought and read a GOOD BOOK like The Beekeepers Handbook, 3rd Edition dated April 98, by Dr. Diana Sammataro, cost $30, you SHOULD, and that will yield better information than you can get anywhere. The famous Dr. Roger Morse writes that Sammataro's book is "the best of the best" George Imirie Certified EAS Master Beekeeper Beginning my 70th year of beekeeping in Maryland Author of George's PINK PAGES