A little help for my friends.

A fellow beekeeper asked me this question and I thought it would be a good idea to copy it here:

If we don't have enough (honey), when do we put in additional feed and what form would we use if syrup would freeze?

You need to be done feeding the bees before the first hard frost which is around November 1st in our area.

One option is to feed the bees honey you harvested earlier. Another option is to not feed them, there's a reason they don't have enough stored for the winter and that reason might be one you don't want to have to deal with next year.

If you decide to feed sugar to your bees you will want to use a 2:1 solution for building winter stores. That is 2:1 by weight, so 2 lbs of sugar for 1 lb of water. A gallon of water weighs about 8 lbs and 2 cups of sugar weigh about 1 lb. so 2:1 by volume is just about right as well.

1 gallon of water : 32 cups of sugar

You have mostly Italian bees which are prone to robbing, which is stealing honey from another hive. If you put a feeder into a hive it makes it much more likely that that hive will be robbed so be VERY careful if you do that. An alternative is open feeding where you put the feed in your yard and you rely on the bees to gather it and carry it back to their own hive. This will do a great deal to reduce the likelihood of robbing.

If a hive isn't able to collect the feed that hive won't make it through the winter. You should kill the queen and combine the bees into another hive but be careful - there is a reason that hive isn't storing for the winter and it could be because they have a disease that you don't want to spread to another hive.

As for the syrup freezing that isn't a concern as long as the bees have enough time to correctly store it. If you feed too late the bees won't be able to store it correctly and it may freeze and ferment so the sooner the better!