According to Sue Hubbell in "A Book of Bees":
"Bees are exceptionally tidy little animals and will not defecate inside their hives. On a winter day warm enough for them to fly out, the snow in front of their hives is spattered with yellow droppings which have been retained inside their bodies. If they do not have a flight day every few weeks, they will sicken rather than eliminate their metabolic wastes within their hive."
"Winter bees live several months longer than summertime ones, who may wear their wings to nubbins and die in six weeks, but over the course of the winter there are always a certain number who die. On a day warm enought to tend to them, the worker bees carry out their dead sisters and drop the bodies some distance from the hive."
There are some really great picture books for kids on honeybees - check your local library!
-Blue