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Name: Craig 
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Question:
Where do bees live in the winter?


Replies:
Bees live in the hive in the winter. They form an undulating cluster and moves across the combs eating the stored honey. They basically spend the whole winter eating and keeping each other warm. Opening the hive - even in the coldest weather - will find bees active and defensive.

All the honey we take from the bees is surplus. By manipulating the hive, a beekeeper can cause the bees to store much more honey than they need to survive the winter (for the upper Midwest of the US this is about 80 pounds). A hive in this area can produce from 50 to 200 pounds of surplus honey.

They don't break the cluster until the temperature is in the mid 40's F .

Larry Krengel


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