Ah,
I avidly read Ted Hoopers book on Canadian beekeeping .
I guess you rarely successfully overwinter the bees as your in the freezer for six months of the year
Whilst beekeeping I saw an article where Russian bee keepers were bringing neuc size boxes of bees into their cellars to over winter the bees , having inverted jam jar feeders sat a sleeved hole that kept the bees back inside the box on top of the neuc lids .
Connecting each neuc entrance via a meaty screwed in place blocking batton to a flexible 1 & 1/2 " pipe , taking the pipes out via the edges of the panel through a window that had been boarded up & filled with insulation.
Their success rate for over wintering was very high , plus they had their own bees to make up into the new hives once the air temps reached 50 oF ( 10 oC)