QTY to feed ?

[malabarchillin]

Going on 2nd year beek.
They are really booming and now will take over 2 quarts of 1:1 per day.
I want to keep them alive, but do not want to fatten them up to swarm. I am
still learning swarm prevention.
Question is :
Is ok to limit each hive to 1 quart per day even though they want more ?
Will they starve if I only feed them 1/2 of what they will take ?
I am not sure when flow will begin, but assume a month here.
I bought 80 pounds of sugar tonight, but did not really intend to feed 5 booming hives
10 pounds per day. I am not trying to push them to the limit for honey production.
Advise and opinions please.
Thanks
Mike

[NWIN Beekeeper]

What needs to be known is the quantity and age of brood present.

If you have lots of eggs and young larvae, you can slow feeding a little.
If your bees have good brood in various stages, then you can slow feeding a little.
If you have lots of capped bees about to emerge, then decreasing may cause starvation without enough other stores.  You have to judge your stores condition.

If you are being to syrup bound, then you certainly should slow down.
In fact you should extract, insert the empty frames centrally, and re-feed the syrup slower.

Your answer is feed by hive conditions, not by a weight scale or volume.

[Brian D. Bray]

What needs to be known is the quantity and age of brood present.

If you have lots of eggs and young larvae, you can slow feeding a little.
If your bees have good brood in various stages, then you can slow feeding a little.
If you have lots of capped bees about to emerge, then decreasing may cause starvation without enough other stores.  You have to judge your stores condition.

If you are being to syrup bound, then you certainly should slow down.
In fact you should extract, insert the empty frames centrally, and re-feed the syrup slower. Your answer is feed by hive conditions, not by a weight scale or volume.

NWIN makes an important point, causing a hive to become honey bound (brood area full of nectar/syrup) is counter productive and can cause the hive to struggle population wise.  In the spring and summer the hive should not be fed to the point the brood area starts to be used for nectar storage, that's what timely supering is for, adding room for the addition stores collected while keeping the brood area dedicated to brood production.  In the fall, when the bees are producing there winter bees the brood chambers can be back filled to the point of being honey bound to provide ample stores of overwintering.  But again it is a matter of timing and paying attention the detail.
A honey bound hive will never build up, so if the hive is not building check for stores (even temporary) in the brood area.