What Happens to Honey Bees in the Winter: Why “Quiet” Doesn’t Mean They’re Gone

If you’ve been living with a honey bee colony in your home, garage, shed or other building and haven’t yet scheduled honey bee removal for your Cleveland property, you might notice a distinct drop in the bees’ activity levels this time of year. Are the bees gone for the winter, or for good? Or is something else going on? Let’s get into what you need to know.

Honey Bees In Winter

Honey bees do not hibernate in the traditional sense, but they do become homebodies. They usually stop flying when it’s cool, often around the low-to-mid 50s°F, depending on sun and wind. There, they form a tight cluster around the queen. They then vibrate their flight muscles to generate heat. Bees will cycle from the exterior toward the interior of this cluster–much like a penguin colony in the Arctic–to ensure even heat distribution among all the workers. This self-made heating system keeps them warm even on very cold days and nights. During this time, they feed on stored honey to keep fueled for the task of heating the colony. The queen greatly reduces egg laying (sometimes stopping for stretches), and drones are typically expelled in fall.

While you may assume that this activity would generate plenty of noise, that isn’t always the case. Bees can be very quiet while keeping themselves warm and fed over winter. You aren’t likely to hear anywhere near as much buzzing as you may during the warmer months, as they are not focused on foraging and raising their brood, and instead are strictly concerned with keeping the colony alive. 

That said, on the random warm winter day when it is sunny, and temperatures rise above normal, you may see bee activity as they use these opportunities to clean any dead bees out of the hive and access extra honey stores. They will also take short "cleansing flights" to relieve themselves of the waste they may have been holding for weeks or months at a time. 

Other Bees and Wasps in Winter

There are thousands of bee species, and they overwinter in different ways. Honey bees survive winter as a full colony by clustering and generating heat. Bumble bees are different. The colony dies out in the fall, and newly mated queens overwinter to start new colonies in the spring. Most other native bees are solitary and overwinter in nests, often as larvae or pupae and sometimes as adults, then emerge when conditions are right. Many social wasps, including yellowjackets and paper wasps, also typically overwinter as newly mated queens.

Bees In Your House In Winter

If you were aware of a bee nest in your home during spring, summer, or fall, it’s likely that they are still there in winter. You may not hear them, but they could just be conserving energy to stay alive. One way to know for sure is to pay attention to any activity on sunny days that may rise into the 50s–this is when bees take their cleansing flights and tidy their hive. Look for a back-and-forth flight to an entry point to identify where they are entering your home or shed. And if you listen very closely, you may be able to discern a faint buzzing sound. 

If you suspect that bees are living in your home during the winter months, do not attempt to remove or exterminate them yourself, and do not seal their entry point. This could lead to injury and property damage in the long run. Trapped bees will try to find another entry point, and dead bees paired with their honey stores can lead to structural damage and decomposition, and may also attract future colonies. Instead, you want to look into bee control in Cleveland and hire an expert bee exterminator, like the professionals at Cleveland Bee Removal.

Professional Bee Control In Cleveland

If bees are overwintering in your home, garage, shed, or other structure, the safest thing you can do is to contact the expert team at Cleveland Bee Removal. We can relocate honey bees and are also licensed hornet exterminators and wasp exterminators for Cleveland properties. On top of removing bees and wasps, we can also offer actionable tips to prevent future infestations. Contact us today to schedule a consultation–we’ll take the sting away!