How do beekeepers keep their bees through the winter?

1.Overwintering mode.
Honeybees are semi-hibernating insects. In winter, honeybees form colonies in the hive and maintain the colony temperature by eating honey to produce heat. The lower the temperature is, the closer the colony is, on the contrary, the looser the cluster is. At this time, there are two main factors that affect whether the bees can survive the winter smoothly, one is whether the colony is strong, and the other is whether there is enough food in the hive. In the absence of one of these two conditions, bees may freeze or starve to death.
2. Overwintering conditions.
A strong colony is the basic prerequisite for a bee colony to survive the winter safely. The reason is that the stronger the colony potential, the stronger the adaptability to the environment. In addition, the stronger the population, the more worker bees can be consumed during the overwintering period. Adequate feed is the basic prerequisite for bees to survive the winter safely. The reason is that during the overwintering period, the colony not only needs feed to survive, but also needs to eat feed to produce heat to maintain the colony temperature.
Suitable temperature is the basic prerequisite for bees to survive the winter safely. The reason is that the suitable temperature can greatly prolong the life span of overwintering bees, but excessive heat preservation during overwintering period will shorten the life span of overwintering bees.
3.Overwintering management.
（1） Heat preservation and cold protection: bees should do a good job of heat preservation and cold protection in winter. For example, the beehive can be wrapped with insulation, and if necessary, the box can also be filled with insulation, and the overwintering temperature is much more harmful to the bee colony than the low temperature.
（2）Subsidized feeding: bees should do a good job of subsidizing feeding in winter. The correct way is to supplement the bees' feed for the whole overwintering period before overwintering, and if they are short of honey during the overwintering period, they should supplement the bees' feed for the winter at noon on a sunny day.
（3）Disease control: honeybees should do a good job in disease control in winter. In particular, when a large number of worker bees die, it is necessary to find out the cause and deal with it in time, otherwise the colony will not be able to survive the winter smoothly.