# Bee ages..



## moday (Mar 28, 2008)

I was trying to understand the life of a honeybee. It says that workers live about 6 weeks and queens can live 18 months to a year. 
What happens in the winter? We live in MI and the hive is pretty dormant all winter. I've filled the feeder once in two months and I don't know if it's them eating of the feeder leaking.
Do some workers live through winter? Are bees born all winter and don't leave the hive or is everything on hold? If the queen lives does anyone else through winter?

thanks, Moday in SE Michigan where our winters can be rather cold


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## thekibblegoddes (Jun 24, 2014)

Winter bees live longer. They go through periods of torpidity (Is that a word) in response to really cold weather. The queen starts building up brood the day after the Winter Solstice, about Dec 23rd. This gets the hive up to strength in time for the spring nectar flow. Queens can actually live for several years, but commercial beekeepers think they don't lay well after 2, so they requeen as a matter of policy.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Workers live 6 to 8 weeks in the summer time because their wings just wear out. They live much longer in the winter because they don't work the wings as hard moving the warm air in the cluster like in the summer with loads of nectar and pollen. But many do die off so you may find some if you use a bent wire and work at cleaning them off the bottom board inside the hive.
Also I have had queens that were good ones that lived thru 3 winters before they started declining. Yes the queen lays a few eggs thru out the winter also, really ramps up the laying in march as soon as we start seeing warm weather. Late February is when we put the pollen patties on so they can have it to feed the new brood. I will have to go check the records but off the top of my head I see my first wild pollen between March 25th to the end of the month. 

What kind of feeder are you using?


 Al


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## moday (Mar 28, 2008)

I put a patty feeder on top in early Dec. I don't think it was necessarily pollen but I bought it at Napoleon Bee Supply as a top feeder.

I have also used sugar water starting in late Dec. I have only filled it a couple times as they seem to barely use this feed. I think it's consumed on the warmer days or it's maybe leaking a bit over a few week period. I looked yesterday and it's still quite full. Its an entrance type feeder where the jar is in front and not in a frame.

thanks, moday


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

My bees were low on honey gong into winter, so I have had feeders set up on both hives. I noticed they took little feed when it was cold but they drained the feeder dry during this warm spell. 

When it is VERY cold the bees get together in a cluster to stay warm, and the entire cluster slowly moves across the combs of honey so that they can eat. None of the bees will leave the cluster when it Is too cold, so none of my bees went to the upper hive box to use the feeder I had set up. As soon as it was warm enough for the bees to fly they ALSO went to the upper box and drank all of the syrup in the feeder.


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## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

Bees will only take sugar water when the temp of the water is 55 F. "13 C." 
Anything colder than that will not be taken.
Winter bees are anatomically different from summer bees, and are designed to live longer, plus what Al said.


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