A couple of weeks ago I returned to Anchorage after a visit to upstate NY.
My father has a few hives on his property there. One of the hives had
swarmed previously and taken up residence in some old hive bodies. The hive
bodies were located inside an old barn. When the barn was closed, as was
generally the case, the inside of the building was  fairly dark. I imagine
the interior of a nest made by bees inside some hive bodies inside a dark
barn would not have a great deal of illumination. The bees did seem to know
when the weather outside was nice and when it was not and flew accordingly.
Also in response to Keith’s remark–we don’t *really* have six months of
night time here in Anchorage, it just seems that way.

Regards,
Dick Allen