If they have enough stores, I don't feed. That is my plan is to not NEED to feed. I'm just saying if you do need to feed, you should. Light is you can lift the boxes and they obviously are not very full. Heavy is you have to work to lift the boxes. To be more specific, if you lift fifty pound boxes of nails, or bags of feed you get a feel for fifty pounds. The back of the hive should feel that heavy or heavier going into winter.