My Fall Feeding System:
I’ve switched to a feeder setup that sits over the top brood box and holds either two quart jars or two half-gallon jars (if you can find them). Then I place an empty super or deep box on top to cover it. I sell these top platforms and you can see examples of this feeder system here:
👉 https://combconnection.com/d/84-top-feeders
What I Feed:
In the fall, I use a 1:1 sugar syrup (one part sugar to one part water), with:
• 1 tsp Pollen Pro
• 1 tsp Honey Bee Healthy Amino Bee Booster
• 1 tsp Original Honey Bee Healthy Feeding Stimulate
(per quart of syrup)
This mixture is designed to simulate a nectar flow, which stimulates brood production — and that's what you want heading into winter: a strong population of healthy winter bees.
Why Not 2:1?
Traditionally, people feed 2:1 syrup in fall to help bees store more reserves — since it’s thicker, it takes less effort for the bees to convert it into honey.
I prefer the 1:1 with supplements because I’m focused on building up bee numbers, not just stores. You may think you have a lot of bees in August but those are summer bees and most will be gone by October, so trust me you need to make more bees. Both approaches have their place, and it's not too late to feed either mix if you're still above 50°F during the day. Ideally, fall feeding should start early to mid-August.
Along with feeding, don’t forget to rearrange your brood boxes. I move all the brood and bees into the bottom box. Then I move most of the honey into the top box, but I always leave at least one empty frame up there so the bees have room to lay some brood if they choose to as they move upward. You should also make sure there’s some bee bread and pollen in the top box to support early brood rearing in late winter. This setup helps them move upward through the stores as winter progresses — just like they naturally do.
For winter feeding I’ve tried, over the years, fondant or a type of patty, sugar on the top bars, and sometimes nothing at all. Honestly, none of those methods worked significantly better than the others. I think the issue is that bees can only suck in food through their proboscis, and dry sugar often isn’t liquefied when they need it most.
This past year, I followed Dave Burns’ method using an insulated top cover with hard sugar candy on the underside. It’s not easy to make (I’ve had a few failed batches), but the logic makes sense. I bought one of his boards, built a few more myself, and hope to perfect the design this year to sell as well. 👉 If you want to try this now, visit his site and order one or two: honeybeesonline.com
As bees cluster in winter, they give off moisture. That moisture condenses on the candy board above, slowly turning the hard candy into a syrup-like mix the bees can consume.
Last winter, I lost a hive that had moved sideways through their stores. Then we hit a really cold snap, and the bees couldn’t make it back across the gap, so, they starved. If I’d had the candy board on, they would’ve had food directly above them as they moved.
Put the candy board on by December 1st, and check it occasionally through winter. It may need to be replaced.