I never closed my hive, and the bees came out whenever it suited them, here in zone 7a.

But the hive, as I recall, did not survive the second Winter, and I do not know why. We had gypsy moth spraying from planes but I still do not blame that.

As I responded in another post from today, I had bees out yesterday on the Lonicera standishii, which is one of the Winter Honeysuckles. I do not know where these present bees are coming from, but they are definitely honeybees.