Most people know that honeybees do not hibernate, and that is why they need to store honey to eat all winter. True hibernating animals, such as bears, do not wake up and eat, but rather sleep and live off of body fat stores. Honeybees, squirrels, and chickadees (some of our favorite animals) stay awake all winter and thus store food to eat.
One thing that many people do not realize about winter honeybees is that unlike a spring born field bee, whose life lasts a mere 6 weeks, a winter bee, born in later summer and early fall, can live 6 or more months. These bees are bigger and hardier than their spring sisters. The queen stops laying in late fall and rests until January or February, when in our area of Pennsylvania, she'll start laying again. During the cold winter months, the bees stay together in a cluster, a ball of bees essentially, to stay warm. Despite being cold blooded, the honeybee cluster in a box of honey is surprisingly able to generate a significant amount of heat: honey is an excellent insulator! In fact, people often assume honeybees die in winter due to cold, but rarely is cold problematic for bees in northern climes. Rather, humidity is often the culprit for dead bees. A cold wet bee gets sick- just like everyone else! So winterizing a hive requires controlling for humidity and ensuring that there is sufficient ventilation. In fact, cold rarely bothers bees: we see bees regularly taking cleansing flights in winter and it is not strange to see bees flying on mild days in January. Pop open the lid of the hive and you can feel the heat from the bees waft out of the top! We are quick about any hive inspections at that time, because just like people, bees are not happy when you open the door and let all the warm air out of the room!
Disclaimers: Blog posts are opinions, not advice. One thing all beekeepers will agree on, is that if you ask 10 beekeepers what to do, you'll get 13 different answers. Beekeeping is alchemy, nature, and a bit of magic.
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