Causing a late season swarm

[RHBee]

I have a few colonies that are kinda lite. I was just wondering if this late in the season over feeding can possibly cause an over crowding swarm? I still have drones but don't want to cause problems. It doesn't make any sense to me that they would have the inclination to swarm but I have never seen anything in print to tell me other wise. I'm still seeing daytime highs in the upper 60's and low 70's.

[wildbeekeeper]

late season swarms can occur in areas where a fall flow or artificial feeding simulates high amounts of available food and/or crowded conditions.  The tems and amount of daylight are similiar as those in spring and are also factors.  Fall swarms arent very common but not unheard of.

[10framer]

feed away ray.  the days are short and they can't be bringing in much pollen.  

[tecumseh]

there are boundaries to any and all things you might wish to do when it come to actively managing honeybees.  this definitely applies to feeding... so to answer your question directly you can overfeed to the point where this can create the conditions whereby a hive or small nuc will swarm... which is basically you are providing the input to totally backfill the brood nest at any time of the year when the queen is still actively laying.  the presence of drone would at least suggest to me that the queen is still actively laying.

[10framer]

ray, i've got lows in the 20's predicted for some nights this week.  the bees aren't going to swarm.

[RHBee]

Rob,
I put 4qts on them all yesterday. They are sucking it down like mad. We got 1 day in the upper 20's this week then a warm up. I'll check stores again.
I'm hoping that they don't think this is Spring. I'm pretty confident they know the seasons.

[JPinMO]

RH, for my own curiosity -- are you feeding 1:1 or 2:1?

[RHBee]

JP, I'm feeding 2:1.

[merince]

You can also estimate the amount of sugar you need to feed - calculate the difference between what they should weigh and what they weigh now and feed no more than that amount. For example if you have a hive at 120 lbs. and you want them at 135 lbs., then feed 15 lbs. sugar max (22.5 lbs sugar syrup or about 2 gal.).

[10framer]

your bees are pretty swarmy from what i remember from the spring.  i guess it could happen but i seriously doubt it.  the sun is way lower in the sky than it is in spring.  i think you'll be fine, it's mid november.  i'll probably feed this week then again in about a month then start pouring it to them weekly in january and february.