Feeding is a decision, not a date in the calendar
Autumn feeding done to a date feeds colonies that did not need it and leaves short the ones that did. The hive tells you which is which, if you wrote it down.
The usual approach to autumn feeding is a weekend in September and the same amount of syrup for every hive. It is simple, it works often enough, and it is wrong in both directions at the same time.
Both errors cost something
A colony that already had enough stores gets fed anyway. The syrup goes into the brood nest, the queen loses laying space at exactly the wrong moment, and you have paid for sugar in order to create a problem.
A colony that was light back in August gets the same standard ration and is still light in November. That is the expensive error, because you find out about it in February and by then there is nothing left to do.
The reading that decides it
Stores are recorded as frames, on the same scale as everything else in an inspection. A hive going into autumn on four frames of sealed honey and one going in on eight are two different situations, and the September decision follows from the August reading rather than from the date.
The feeding record sits next to the inspection that prompted it, so the following spring you can see which colonies were fed, how much they were given, and whether it made any difference.
Common questions
How do I judge stores without weighing the hive?
Count frames of sealed honey, the same way you count everything else in an inspection. It is a judgement you can make with a frame in your hands, and it stays consistent across a season, which is what makes the comparison worth anything.
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