a Bill T snip follow by > my comments
Answering the title - pros and cons of early build-up - I am on the con
side but only because I do not want an early buildup. If I was commercial
or if I needed lots of honey, then I might change my mind.

>I would suggest it depends on purpose and on the kind of flow you have at any given location.  For example I want lots of young bees(workers and drones) in the box early to produce queens and nuclei and this requires some early feeding. Secondly I also desire to gather something of a honey crop (not too much but just a wee bit) and this area has a punctuated flow that comes early and then smaller punctuated flows that follow... if a hive has not gained a good population the first flow is lost via hive build up which then results in a very populated hive with a declining flow.

>Of course like all things you can feed too much which can encourages a hive to swarm early.  Reasonable (seems some have not figured things out???) you need not fill the feeder all the way to the brim.. nor do you need to refill the feeder as soon as it is clean out.  When I feed I always remind myself that a trickle of 'rain' is almost always superior to a flood.

Gene in Central Texas...

  

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