I have a few colonies that are light on honey, some very light. The bees look healthy and all have strong populations. One colony has gone up into the supers and pulled all the honey down into the brood area because they were so light. Now is the time that I have to feed my light colonies.
I have been feeding ProSweet bee feed instead of sugar. Sugar has been going up in price. I see it in the $0.54 - $0.60 a lb range. That is around $30 for 50 lbs. ProSweet is selling for $32.00 a pail and I get a $7.50 food grade pail included in that price.
I have to mix heavy syrup by hand till it all liquefies. Then the bees have to take it down, dry it out, turn it to honey. With ProSweet, the bees take it down straight, no mixing. It goes right into the cells, no drying and that's it. 60 lbs of weight is added to a colony from one pail. ProSweet won't granulate and is a great fall feed when a beekeeper has to add food to a light colony.