I did a lot of splits. A package has nothing when they start unless you give it to them. But I usually have drawn comb and some capped honey I can take from another hive to get them started. No I did not feed any packages or splits.
I like the idea of not feeding and actually followed your advice and didn't feed any of my hives during the flow. Less expense = more profitable business model and better for the bees.
However, these swarms were after the flow. I'd prefer not to give them capped honey from another hive. A quart of honey goes for $19 around here. $19 would buy a 50lb bag of sugar. If I dole out frames of capped honey to the swarms, and leave a super on all my other hives which I usually do, then it seems like my honey harvest would be pretty small.
I've heard that some beekeepers will take all the honey they can and feed syrup back until fall. I don't like that approach. I don't think it's the best for the bees, and if you leave a super on, it could contaminate it for next season if they don't use up all the syrup over the winter.
So my challenge is that I don't want to contaminate medium number 3, because that could be a honey super next year, but I want them to have enough feed to get through the winter.