>  I am curious about tips as to how
 > to best get the syrup to those colonies that need it most.

I have to get going on some jobs around here and give this a rest, but
I'll answer this.

Drum feeding in small quantities during spring and summer will favour
some colonies over others.  That is one reason I don't advocate it at
such times except for special purposes with that shortcoming in mind.

Drum feeding's primary and best use is for loading up hives _in fall_
immediately after removing the supers.  Same day is best.

Done then, the goal up here is to give the hives as much as they will
take.  We use a drum of syrup for each twenty hives, but often in more
drums to spread the bees out more.

The colonies fill their brood area, then slow down.  They don't build
comb the crazy way they do earlier in the season or on thin syrup.

I always follow up a few weeks later with another round for the hives
that are still light, maybe because they were full of brood at the time
of the first feeding and had no room.  Sometimes a third round is
required. The gap of weeks between rounds is important.

We check weights and decide if more is needed by lifting the front of
the hive.  A good man can guess within a few Kg.  We check every so
often against a dummy hive we carry with us that weighs the target
weight since after a while in a light or heavy yard, a person's weight
sense gets off a bit.

On the later rounds, heavy hives don't bother coming out much, and the
light hives plug themselves out, then settle down.

When we are done, the hives are usually all within a few Kg of one
another.  It's amazing.

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