Feeding "when a colony looks light" instead of on a plan often means help arrives too late. This apiary shows five colonies, each with its own stores gauge (the glowing amber tube beside each hive) that rises when syrup or fondant goes in and falls with day-to-day consumption. Change the season, the feed rate and the mix of weak-to-strong colonies to see how the same schedule can be generous for one hive and barely enough for another.
A UK colony can need 15–20kg of stores to survive winter, and colonies vary enormously in how fast they draw that down — which is why experienced beekeepers write a feeding schedule per colony rather than a single blanket rule for the whole apiary, then adjust it as they check hive weights through the season.
Five hives sit in a row, each with a live stores gauge that rises when you feed and falls with everyday consumption — set the season, feed rate and colony mix and watch which colonies your plan actually protects.
Stores rise and fall from two competing rates — consumption (set by season and colony strength) and feeding (set by your feed rate and syrup type). A single schedule can leave weaker colonies short while stronger ones sit comfortably full.
Pick a season, set a feed rate and a colony-strength mix, then speed up time and watch each hive's gauge and the "hives at risk" counter. Toggle monitoring alerts to see the threshold warnings a real inspection would flag.
Beekeepers commonly switch from thick 2:1 autumn syrup to solid fondant in winter because bees can't process watery syrup well in the cold — exactly why the feeder in this scene swaps from a dripping jar to a shrinking fondant block.