I've read many people say that it's advisable to stop feeding as soon as the bees stop taking it.
But I recently read an excerpt from Michael Bush's online work that if you follow
that reasoning, the bees may pack so much syrup in that they may not leave enough room for themselves to cluster during the cold winter months.
Here is the link:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm#moldysyrupScroll down to "Third, How
much do you feed?"
I haven't had to feed sugar in ten years because I use cutout honey when necessary. And I always have leftover! I fed all my remaining cutout honey to my six hives - about 50 lbs. And I just finished feeding over 200 lbs more of sugar because they were so light. I'm in NYC and we've had more overcast and rainy days here than I can remember. Fall flow thus far has been terrible. They finally slowed to a crawl taking up the syrup.
But the question of my post remains: When would YOU stop feeding? When the hives weigh enough as Michael Bush says, or when they stop taking it? Really interested in knowing your opinions on this.