When the first hard freeze hits and the garden goes quiet, it feels like bees and wasps simply vanish. One day they are buzzing over flowers and patrolling the picnic table, and the next day the air is empty. So where do they actually go, and how do they make it through months of cold?
Entomologists explain that the answer depends on who you are looking at. Honey bees, bumble bees, yellowjackets, paper wasps, carpenter bees and mud daubers do not all follow the same winter script. Their survival plan is shaped by whether they live in big societies or on their own.
Social hives that shrink to a single queen
For social insects, winter is a reset button. Chris Hayes, an extension associate professor of structural pest management at North Carolina State University, notes that survival is tied to both species and social structure. In many bee and wasp colonies, almost every individual dies after a few hard freezes. The only survivor is usually a newly mated queen.
Honey bees are the big exception. Their colonies do not shut down for winter. Instead the workers cluster tightly around the queen and create their own central heating. They vibrate the muscles that power their wings to generate warmth, then trade places so no bee stays on the chilly outside of the cluster for too long. Inside a hive, this living heater can keep the core warm enough for the colony to survive until spring nectar returns.
Bumble bees follow a different plan. The workers and old queen die in late fall. New queens that mated during the season look for safe hiding spots in leaf litter, in cracks and crevices or underground. There they wait out the cold months, ready to start fresh nests when the weather softens.
Solitary bees hiding in wood and soil
Solitary bees do not have a colony to protect them, so each individual must ride out winter alone as a juvenile or as an adult, depending on the species.
Carpenter bees are a good example. A female tunnels into wood, stocks her nest with pollen and nectar, and lays eggs in separate chambers. The young develop and emerge as adults by late summer or fall, then stay tucked in those same wooden galleries through winter. When spring arrives, they simply step out and begin the cycle again.
Leafcutter bees have their own twist. They line small cavities with bits of leaf and store pollen for their developing larvae. Instead of overwintering as adults, they pause development as larvae and wait for warmer days to continue growing.
In all these cases, the insects are very much still in your yard. They are just hidden inside stems, soil clumps and old boards instead of hovering over flowers.
Wasps with short lives and giant surprise nests
Wasps follow a rhythm that looks a lot like their bee cousins. Social species such as yellowjackets usually lose all their workers once cold weather settles in. Mated queens slip into sheltered places under tree bark, inside rotting logs or even in human spaces such as attics.
Most yellowjacket nests die off completely. Yet entomologists in the Southeast have documented a striking exception. Eric Benson, professor emeritus and extension entomologist at Clemson University, reports that some southern yellowjackets can form perennial colonies that survive one winter and keep growing into the next year. He has seen a single nest packed with around 250,000 workers and more than one hundred queens.
Colonies of that size are not just a curiosity. They can dominate a site, and experts stress that removal is a job for professional pest control operators, not a weekend do-it-yourself project.
Why you still see wasps on warm winter days
If you spot a paper wasp lazily circling the porch in January, you are likely seeing a queen that has been disturbed from a resting spot. Benson notes that several queens sometimes huddle in the same protected area, such as an attic. When warm indoor air or a sunny spell wakes them, they may wander through the house. If that keeps happening in midwinter, it is a sign you may want to investigate where they are sneaking in from.
Most of the time, though, bees and wasps stay tucked away and inactive. They will not waste precious energy unless temperatures climb enough to let them move and feed safely.
Simple ways to help bees and wasps through winter
For all the stings they sometimes deliver, bees and wasps are powerful allies for gardens and food systems. They pollinate crops and wild plants and help control pests such as caterpillars. Giving them a hand in winter supports that quiet work.
One easy step is to leave a corner of your yard a little wild until spring. A layer of fallen leaves acts like a blanket, offering shelter and insulation for insects that overwinter underground or in shallow burrows. The same messy patch can protect moths, butterflies and ground beetles.
Delaying spring cleanup also matters. If you cut every dead stem the moment the snow melts, you may be tossing out solitary bees that are still resting inside. Local university extension services can advise on when key species usually emerge in your region, so you know when it is safer to rake and trim.
Out of sight, not gone
Winter makes it tempting to think that bees and wasps simply disappear. In reality, they are still with us, packed into wooden tunnels, curled under bark or clustered in hidden corners of the hive. How we manage our yards and homes during the quiet season can either wipe out those hidden populations or give them a better chance to bounce back in spring.
For anyone who enjoys a healthy vegetable patch or a buzzing summer meadow, that is worth remembering when the leaves fall and the garden tools come out.
Much of the background on overwintering bees in this article aligns with guidance in the “Meant to Bee” resource published by Colorado State University Extension.
