We lost a few of hives but not to cold. My father loved taking care of the bees. He would purposefully set aside a few hectors/acres near the hives to plant Buckwheat, Alfalfa, etc so they wouldn't have to work so hard or fly to far. They loved him back and treated him with kindness, he rarely got stung and would sit among them in his shorts and undershirt smoking his cigarettes relaxing. It was where he could just go and get away from everyone knowing no one would bother him there :)). Me on the other hand was a different story...hehehe