How to Tell if Your Hive Is Alive in Winter (Without Opening It)

Winter worry is normal

Every beekeeper I have ever encountered is a little anxious that their colonies will make it through winter. No two winters are ever the same, so it can be hard to know if the cold snap or the extra snow could make the difference between your hives making it, and them not.

In the winter, you shouldn’t just open the hive to see what is going on. This would disrupt the cluster, and since heat rises, it would let out almost all of their heat.

Here I am going to show you exactly how you can safely and easily tell if your hive is still alive in winter, without disturbing the bees.

Why you should avoid opening the hive in winter

Opening the hive when it is below 55 degrees is most generally not a good idea. The heat that escapes makes it harder for them to get the hive warm again, and it also disrupts their cluster. If they happen to be raising brood, you risk chilling the brood, and you also break their propolis seals, which prevents heat escaping through the cracks in the woodenware. There are rare, emergency situations where opening the hive extremely quickly is necessary. If you believe your hive is starving, then opening them for about thirty seconds, hopefully with the help of another person, to feed them is necessary. Otherwise, if they are in fact starving, then they will die no matter what and opening them is the least of the two evils.

The easiest ways to tell if your hive is alive (without lifting the lid)

1. Listen for the winter hum. Put your ear to the side of the hive, and listen closely. I have found it helps if I cup my hands around my ears, and I can hear them much better. A healthy hum sounds quiet but vibrant. Occasionally, you might not hear anything. Try gently tapping or flicking the side of the hive, and then listen again. Often this does the trick and they will begin buzzing again. If you don’t hear anything, this could mean that they are dead, but it may not. Last year I was preparing to clean out my dead hives (deadouts) and opened a hive to clean it out. I hadn’t heard anything for a long time, despite even knocking on the hive. I was so surprised to find that it had made it through the winter and was thriving. So if you don’t hear anything, this only may mean that your hive has not made it.
2. Look for fresh debris on the bottom board. These can be wax cappings, chewed comb, dead mites, or dead bees. Fresh debris means activity. Your hive is still alive if you see these things. (Don’t open them to check the bottom board. Instead peer under the entrance or slide out the tray, but don’t disturb them by opening your hive.)
3. Watch for bees at the entrance on warm days. Bees take cleansing flights (where they go to the bathroom so as to not soil their hive) and also take quick orientation flights on warm days. Even seeing just a few bees means your hive is alive. Bees cannot survive on their own, so you have a living cluster if you have live bees.
4. Check for moisture on the landing board and icicles hanging from the roof. When there is condensation dripping, there is a warm cluster inside. Moisture is a sign of life. Think about what happens when you breath in a confined space when it is cold. The moisture in your breath condenses. This is not a problem (unless it is excessive, which you usually will not be able to see excessive moisture from the outside of the hive.)
5. Feel for warmth on the outside of the hive. Place your bare hand on the side of the upper box or side walls. Do you feel warmth? This is a good sign. This is one of my least favorite ways to check, as I have been fooled that a living hive was dead and a dead hive was alive, because the temperature difference between a living and dead hive is very small.
6. Do you have snow? If so, has the snow melted off some tops while not having melted off others? You can also get an idea how large a cluster is by the amount of snow they melt. This works best when the amount of snow is an inch or two. They won’t melt entire feet of snow off a hive, but it likely will be shorter on the hives that are alive than the dead or empty hives.
7. Do you see dead bees in front of the hive? If so, this is a sign your hive is still alive, as bees are leaving to remove dead bees, or not making it back from their flights.

Signs your hive might be dead (without opening it)

1. No debris for weeks
2. No sound when tapping the hive
3. No bees flying on warm days
4. Icy or frosted entrance for long periods
5. Strong smell of decay (rare but unmistakeable)

One sign alone does not conclusively confirm anything. Instead look for multiple indicators.

What to do if you’re unsure

1. Try the “tap test” (gently knock and then listen with your ear to the hive for the buzz)
2. Use a thermal camera (optional)
3. Check the weight, a light hive may still be alive but starving

If the hive is excessively light, then give them dry sugar as emergency feed (see my article about how to feed, here.) If they don’t feel too light, then wait and watch for more signs of life.

If your hive is alive: How to support it

If they feel light, add dry sugar. You can reduce their entrances to let less warm air escape and cold air enter the hive. Likewise, you can insulate the hive or use a moisture board (these things are best done in the fall but could be added in the winter if necessary.) Overall, avoid any disturbance that is not neccessary.

If your hive has died: what to do next

First of all, losing a hive is a very sad thing. Especially if you only have one or two, you become attatched to them. I have cried over losing a hive, as I am sure many beekeepers have done. This is a normal experience and reason to be sad. Unfortunately, winter losses happen, especailly as you are just beginning to learn how to keep bees.

You will want to inspect the deadout. You can learn what caused them to die so that you are better prepared for next year since you will know what to gaurd against. Remove the frames, and look for honey. Take note of the size of cluster. If there is honey but they died, is there honey near the cluster, or is it a frame or two away? If this is the case, then you likely had temperatures too cold for the bees to break cluster and move to the honey. If they are right next to the honey, they probably had too small of a cluster. How were your varroa levels, going into winter? This could also be a contributing factor.

You will want to remove the dead bees, and harvest honey, assuming it is not moldy or otherwise unappetizing. Since honey can carry diseases from one colony to another, but not from bees to humans, it is safe for human consuption but I would avoid feeding it to your other colonies, or letting them rob it out. Scrape moldy portions of frames, and you can reuse the hive bodies, frames, and foundation.

Note why they died, and do things differently next year. If they didn’t have a big enough cluster, then work towards going into winter with more bees in the hive. If they ran out of honey, leave more or feed them more heavily next year.

You should be able to tell if your hives are alive, and should also know how to deal with deadout colonies, if you have some. Each year, you will learn more and you should be able to continually improve so you come through winter with more hives making it through every year.