To feed or not to feed, and what to feed - that is the question.  As far
as what to feed, I trap pollen in the summer to feed in the late winter/
early spring, mixed with BeePro (from Mann Lake) and 1:1 sugar syrup.
The more pollen the better - I shoot for about 25:75 pollen to BeePro.
Obviously I don't do this on a large scale.  I don't know the formula
for BeePro but s'pect it's a soy/yeast mixture based on sight and smell.
 
As far as "when" goes, as in all beekeeping issues the answer is,
"Depends on where you are".  In the upstate New York areas, Roger Morse
says feeding is not necessary.  Rationale being that the ideal time for
feeding coincides with the time that abundant food is (usually) readily
available to foargers and feeding is an unnecessary expense.  In the
years that I have fed my bees to stimulate early build up I got plenty
of swarms.  Last year I did early stimulative feeding and made ample
splits to thwart the swarms.
 
So one must ask, "What is the goal of feeding?".  For Allen it's puttin'
on the fall fat for over wintering.  I had never considered this, to me
(and in most texts) the goal was always early spring build up.  In these
parts early spring is mid to late winter so as Dr. Morse states, spring
feeding isn't really necessary.  The best analysis of stimulative spring
feeding I have found is in _Swarming:_Its_Control_and_Prevention_ by
L.E. Snelgrove.  In that book he maps bee development to an area's honey
flow calendar to determine the 'ideal' time for stimulative spring
feeding.  If the goal is to maximize honey production, then you want to
stimulate brood rearing in time to allow the addition brood to become
foragers to coincide with the peak honey flow, or approximately 6 to 8
weeks prior to the peak flow in your area.  It's all in the timing!
In these parts that period is about April 1, which is also the start
of peak spring blossom awakening.  Snelgrove bears out Morse!  So my
knowledge and experience for these parts (unless increase is your goal)
is feeding is not necessary.  Your results may vary.
 
Guess this is a long winded way to recommend reading Snelgrove.
 
Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee!