beekeeping Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most-commonly-kept species but other honey-producing bees such as ''Melipona'' stingless bees are also kept. ...

, a winter cluster is a well-defined cluster of

honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current co ...

s that forms inside a

beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...

when the air temperature dips below 10 to 14 °C (50 to 57 F). Honey bees are one of but a few kinds of insects that survive the winter as a colony. As the outside air temperature decreases the winter cluster becomes tighter and more compact. The bees cling tightly together on the

combs Combs may refer to: Places France * Combs-la-Ville, a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris United Kingdom *Combs, Derbyshire, England *Combs, Suffolk, England United States *Combs, Arkansas, a community *Combs, Kentucky, a com ...

in the hive. The temperature within the winter cluster remains remarkably warm regardless of the outside air temperature. Larger clusters (

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

size) have a better chance for survival than smaller clusters (

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

size). The winter cluster within the hive must move throughout the winter to reach the available honey stored in the combs. Some die-off is expected during the winter. In extended cold weather periods, the incidence of Nosema disease increases and the cluster may weaken as many bees begin dying off.Basil Furgala. 1975. Chapter XVI; Fall Management and the Wintering of Productive Colonies. In: ''The hive and the honeybee''. Dept. of Entomology,

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, Dadant.

Honey bee brood nest

In subtropical climates, bees may not form a winter cluster at all.

Worker bee A worker bee is any female (eusocial) bee that lacks the full reproductive capacity of the colony's queen bee; under most circumstances, this is correlated to an increase in certain non-reproductive activities relative to a queen. While worker be ...

s forage and

queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

lay eggs almost year-round. In the temperate zones, winter temperatures dip below 12 °C (54 °F) for extended periods. All brood rearing stops for some period during the winter. In early spring, brood rearing resumes inside the winter cluster when the queen starts to lay eggs again. Once a brood nest is established, the cluster must maintain a steady temperature between 34.5 and 36.7 °C (94.1 - 98.0 °F) inside the cluster. If the temperature in areas of the brood nest dips too low the brood could die - also called chilled brood.

References

Western honey bee behavior {{Apidae-stub