Perhaps it sounds counterintuitive, but honeybees would probably have a better chance of surviving the tough weather of winter if temperatures remained constantly cold.  The recent erratic swings that have been occurring in eastern North Carolina, make if difficult for bees to survive.  Thirty-five degrees one day and 70 degrees a few days later can cause havoc for a colony of bees.  Honeybees are very well adapted to surviving cold temperatures. However, when it becomes warms for a few days, queens start laying more eggs which produce larva and young bees that consume the limited amount of food stores that were saved from the previous summer.  This depletion in the hive "pantry" spells doom for a hive that cannot survive until pollen and nectar become available in the early spring.