New apiary, bees are starving

[BeeMaster2]

South,
Put the sheet of news paper down, then the sugar and sprinkle or better yet use a spray bottle to moisten it.
If it is your honey, not bought, and it?s legal then you can use it.
I do not recommend using lemongrass oil in a hive for any reason except in swarm traps.
For insulation I use foam boards that have foil on both sides and put them in the lids. I have also used foam boards and added foil, real duct tape, to improve the insulation value.
Jim

[ed/La.]

If in relevantly  damp environment you do not need water. Sugar will absorb water from hive and air. .  Put sugar on news paper and it should get hard. Takes some moisture out of hive.

[SouthAussieBeekeeper]

I ended up leaving four supers with just a brood box, nothing else on top. With three other hives, I left a Manley super in top of the brood chamber. I wasn't sure if this was a mistake, but they had a decent amount of structure and I felt it might have been too cramped trying to put them into a single brood box.

I removed the hive mat and put newspaper on top. I made a syrup using half honey, half water and placed it into sand which bags, which I left open with many holes pinches into it with a nail. I then covered the paper and bag with white sugar. The syrup helped moisten the sugar, I also sprinkled a little bit of water on it.

On the seven hives I used about 6 kilos of honey and 12 kilos of sugar. Im very surprised by how quickly they ate into it. I gave some hives a top up of sugar before I left, as they ate it so fast that a decent chunk of it was already removed during the dew hours that I was there.

I checked and confirmed that the hive does indeed have a queen. She wasn't laying anythhing at all though. I hope with the amount of sugar I gave them, that they'll reconsider this.

In how many days would it be suitable to check up on them again?

[BeeMaster2]

During the winter, you should only be checking the sugar that is in the top of the hive. I never take a hive apart during winter unless I suspect it is dead or in serious trouble.
Jim