We had some heavy snow recently and on Jan 31, after 8" of snow and low temps (0 wind chill), I was cleaning the snow off of the hive entrance at Mid Day and six (6) bees flew out of the hive entrance and immediately fell into the snow on the ground. The bees were motionless so I gently picked them up and placed them near the entrance of the hive which was now clear of snow. This is my first year with a hive going through winter..the hive is in a sheltered area, but the heavy snow fall stil collected on the hive. I have it wrapped in tar paper and bored a hole in the upper deep near the top for added ventilation. Any ideas out there or is this normal behavior for bees?
Probably the lack of air flow in the hive from the snow on the landing board raised the temperature a bit inside and the bees thought it was warmer than it was. I'd not worry about six bees!
Good news is that you have live bees in there -- be prepared for a number of dead bees to appear the first warm days you get, as they will immediately start dumping out the dead ones that collected over winter, and wont' fly very far, unlike when the weather is warm.
Leave the snow on the hives! It does nothing but good. When it is warm enough for them to be out, the snow will have melted, especailly since you have a hole bored in the upper hive body. Snow does NOT smother bees.
I rarely move the snow off the hives and when I do, it's only because I need to get at them for some reason (restack hay bale or re-tack tar paper).
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