Temperature
In winter, honeybees don't become dormant like many other insects, but rather create a warm microclimate inside the hive and subsist on the stored honey. The bees warm themselves and the nest as a whole by exercising their flight wings - like revving the engine in neutral. They retain this precious heat by allowing only small openings in the nest, by using plant resins and gums to seal holes and cracks, and by clustering into a round mass of bees. By so doing, they can keep the temperature of bees at the outermost limits of the cluster above 50°F, the honeybee's lower lethal limit. To maintain such a microclimate, the colony must consume more than two pounds of honey a week throughout the winter, hence the strenuous collection of nectar during the warmer months.
From late winter to early autumn, bees keep the temperature in the hive's nursery between about 91°F and 97°F to ensure proper development of the young. They rarely allow the temperature to vary more than 2°F in the course of a day. On steamy days, they cool the nest by fanning their wings or by spreading water on the comb to remove heat through evaporation. Photos: ©1998 ORF. |
Through a variety of means, honeybees keep the nest temperature high even during winter months.
Fewer than one percent of foragers will collect water,
which they either give to nurse bees to dilute honey for feeding the brood or
spread over the comb when it's too hot.