I don't want to feed my bees, but they just didn't gather enough and a few hives would die even before winter starts. There's just nothing in there but a little bit here and there. So I made a screen to prevent robbing and set it in place a day or two before. Then I fed them and it didn't seem bad. Then another day I was going to feed another hive and remembered some dry sugar left over I had placed on top last winter. I mixed it up and found I had a dab too much. I then added it to the first hive. It must have had a scent on it because the hive was just swarmed with bees. The screened entrance was 2" by 1/2" screened tunnel they had to go through. They just kept after them. I plugged the entrance and that helped, but the next day they were at it again. Observing the other hives, it looked like the only other one with activity was the one who had the most nectar! Greedy bees. So I threw a nylon window screen over it so they had to go out the sides. Still, I think there's robbing, but hard to tell which are friends and which are foes as I believe the bees from the hive fly out and around when fed, too.
it just seems bad to feed, because then the others rob. One idea I had is to feed the most aggressive/"productive" hive and that seemed to keep them busy. The others had bees hanging out, but this one didn't. Must all be busy inside.
So......
What's people's thoughts on feeding the biggest hive, then as they fill the combs, swap them out with the empty combs from other hives? No use having them all deal with robbing along with thinking nectar is coming in, and if the biggest hive can withstand it....any potential problems?