How do bees survive winter?
Bees do not hibernate. They form a cluster around the brood nest and shiver their flight muscles to keep the centre warm, eating through stored honey as fuel and moving slowly upward as they consume it. Colonies rarely freeze — they starve inches from food during a cold snap, or they succumb to varroa damage.
The full lesson
How bees survive the winter. Contrary to popular belief, bees do not hibernate. They remain active and awake inside the hive all winter long. When the outside temperature drops below 14 degrees Celsius, 57 degrees Fahrenheit, bees tightly cling to one another to form a winter cluster. By vibrating their flight muscles, bees keep the center of the cluster at 33 to 35 degrees Celsius,
91 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, even in freezing weather. Without flapping their wings, bees generate tremendous heat inside the hive simply by vibrating their thoracic muscles. Cold bees on the outside move inward, while warm bees move outward, maintaining a continuous shift rotation all winter. At the very center of the winter cluster, the warmest
in safest spot, stays the queen, the future of the colony. Generating heat requires massive energy. Bees get this by consuming the capped honey they store during autumn. As they consume honey, the cluster slowly moves from empty frames to full ones, without breaking
their formation. To keep the hive perfectly clean, bees can hold their feces for months and will never poop inside the hive. On the first sunny winter day above 10 degrees Celsius, 50 degrees Fahrenheit, bees rush out of the hive for a cleansing and bathroom flight.
This lesson is also in the app, along with the other twenty-nine.
Next lessons
When should I harvest honey?
1:40 19How do I extract and store honey?
1:40 20What should I have learned in my first year of beekeeping?
1:40Lessons and forum answers describe beekeeping practice and peer experience, not veterinary guidance. Treatment thresholds, inspection timing and disease management vary by climate, subspecies and local regulation. Diseases that are notifiable where you live must be reported to your national bee inspectorate.