Thanks for reaching out with this beekeeping question.

We often feed new colonies sugar syrup to help them produce wax. Colonies generally need strong nectar flows and/or liquid feed in order to draw wax. New colonies such as packages or nucleus (nucs) colonies that have lots of foundation in their hives need access to nectar/syrup to draw comb.

We do not feed syrup when the honey supers (in other words, the boxes we are using to collect surplus honey to harvest for human consumption). We can feed syrup when the colony is just in its brood chambers (the boxes that will stay with the bees year-round and that won't be used for harvesting honey).

So, if you have a new package or nuc, you can feed sugar syrup until you add the honey supers. If the hive has a lot of frames of foundation, then syrup/nectar can help the bees to draw comb. Feeding syrup in the spring can also prevent starvation if the colony is light on food and weather prohibits foraging. Note that sometimes bees will stop taking syrup when there is a strong nectar flow.

Happy beekeeping!