[Black Creek]

it's been a horribly dry summer here and i've had fighting and robbing to no end. Most of my hives produced no surplus. In fact most are so light i'm worried they wont make it through winter. so i started feeding them. 3 days later i got a swarm. 2 days after that(yesterday) i got another swarm.

Did my feeding 1:1 after so much heat and dry weather make them think it's a good time to swarm? They all have PLENTY of empty space.

Should I switch up to 2:1 ?? some of the hives need to build up the population a bit and all need stores.

 

[brac]

If they swarmed 3 days after you started feed, then the 2 things are unrelated, as they would have decided to swarm long ago.

 

[D Coates]

How old is your queen? The older she is the more she's itching to swarm. Feeding them may have been the triggering mechanism but they were already set up to swarm if they did it only 3 days after you started feeding. If you've got that much room and 1/2 the population just flew off consider reducing the hive in size (and entrance) so they have less to defend. If you captured either of the swarms put them in the removed box(s). On the bright side, you should end up with a fresh queen for next year in the hive the swarms eminated from.

I would seriously consider feeding the respective hives to get them built up with populations and stores that will survive the winter. That is unless you're planning on combining these before winter sets in. Considering all the heat and dry weather, if it was me I'd feeding.