As fall looms on the horizon, the bees know they have to make every minute count. Soon winter will be here and they and their fellow sister bees will be clustered in a tight clump in the frigid hive. The cold girls will work their way into the center where it’s warmer and closer to the food they’ve stored. When they are warm, they make room for the colder bees. 

You may ask, where are the males (drones). They’ve been killed or kicked out of the hive for the winter. Their only function is to mate once with a queen which might happen in spring. If the girls left them in the hive for winter they would eat all the stores. Since they don’t gather honey, they’re not allowed to stick around in the lean times.

Come spring, new drones will hatch, and the cycle continues.