feeding sugar syrup- how much is too much?

[SallyD]

Greetings:
I am getting my bees ready for the winter so I am feeding them. The syrup they are going through is unreal! They are consuming about a 1 gallon in a period of 24-36 hours. Last week I went through 15 pounds of sugar (2:1). Should I stop or slow down? Thanks in advance for your input.

[ralittlefield]

I would feed them until they had stores enough for winter. For me that means a hive of 2 deeps and a medium that weighs about 150 lbs.

Too much is possible. If they are honey bound, meaning that all the cells are filled and the queen has no place to lay and there are no empty cells for the cluster, then that would be too much.

I'm afraid that I can't help you with what ready for winter means in Atlanta, but I'm sure that it is different than Maine!

[Michael Bush]

A cluster needs empty comb to cluster on. If you feed too much there will be no where for them to cluster.