This is my second year as a beekeeper. I started with 2 hives and now
have four. This spring I split one hive and then later the same hive
swarmed and I captured it to make the fourth colony. I managed to harvest
around 150 kg of honey. To date, since early September I have fed all hives
exactly 90 kg of sugar mixed two to one with water. They seem satiated at
this point. Only one hive
is now consuming syrup at a good rate. Each hive is made up of two brood
supers with hive top feeder. There is no canola in my area this year so
natural honey stored by the bees should not crystalize. Does the fact
that the bees have stopped feeding vigourously mean they have run out of
storage space for honey and are therefore topped up for winter?
 
Thanks, Doug Henry