Beekeepers Face Freezing Cold Front

Some parts of the nation are experiencing snowfall for the first time in more than 100 years. The 2025 cold front across America has many scrambling to navigate this freezing weather. As parents do for their children, beekeepers think about how they can protect and keep their bees safe and survive this extreme winter weather. As beekeepers battle against the extreme colds to protect their bees, it is worth noting that the cold alone won’t kill a colony, but if bees get cold and wet, they won’t likely survive.

Beekeepers, by nature, want to do everything they can to help bees in the unexpected. However, bees are incredibly adaptable, when something like this cold winter hits, bees and people may need to make additional adjustments.

How Beekeepers Help Bees in Extreme Cold

Beekeepers may think they must create heat for bees in these extreme temperatures. It is important to remember that bees are able to group and generate heat on their own. Bees can huddle together, and their heat kills invading wasps, so they have the capability to keep each other warm as long as they and the hive are not cold and wet. There is rarely the need to add a heat lamp or bring hives inside during extreme cold because bees regulate the temperature within the hive efficiently. There are things that beekeepers can do to help protect them, but don’t take away their skill of adaptability.

How Bees Stay Warm on Their Own

Bees use their wings and bodies to regulate temperatures in the hive. As they are able to keep cool in summer, they are also quite capable of generating heat in extremely cold weather. Bees cluster together in the hive, and as the bees on the outside of the cluster get cold, they switch with the bees in the middle. Bees will also eat honey to create the energy necessary to vibrate and produce heat. Bees have also been known to go into empty cells and generate heat within them, similar to a human in a sleeping bag. Although beekeepers may be able to help seal cracks on the outside of the hive, bees will also fill in cracks from the inside to minimize wind and cold coming in. Bees are marvelously adaptable!

Seal Cracks, Stop Wind, and Keep Hives Dry

If hives have cracks and openings from wear and tear, they can be sealed with duct tape. The hive's entrance and screened board on the bottom can be left alone. A mouse guard can be added to the hive's entrance to keep pests out, seeking refuge in a nice, warm location.

If strong winds are blowing where the hives are located, it may be worth trying to deter them from hitting them directly. In extreme cases, the bottom board can be closed up temporarily. Some beekeepers in the northern states use various methods to create insulation around the hives. Remember, bees aren’t going out in this weather anyway!

Some beekeepers like to provide their bees with additional sugar syrup, but the risk is that the syrup creates humidity and, once bees are wet and cold, suffer. Slightly tilting hives can keep melting ice and snow from making the hive wet, which is what beekeepers should avoid.

Checking Hives in Winter Without Opening Them

Beekeepers are curious; they want to check on their hives when winter hits. Opening hives in extreme cold is not recommended because it allows too much cold air to enter the colony, which can kill it. There are other ways to check on the hive without opening it.

• Listen for buzzing sounds using a stethoscope. It is okay to tap the hive to generate a response, but don't do this too often, as this exhausts the bee’s energy.
• Look for melted rings on top of the hive: the bees’ heat will melt fallen snow, and it will be visible to the beekeeper
• Look from underneath: If the bottom of the hive is screened and not closed, beekeepers can look from underneath and see if the bees are alive.
• Dead bees in snow surrounding the hive may sound like a bad thing, but it is a sign of bees cleaning out the hive, which means some survivors are maintaining their home.