Abstract: The results showed that both the mortality and consumed bee feed for indoor bees were lower than those for outdoor bees in Tianshui region. A mean mortality of 8.30% of indoor overwintering colonies was significantly lower than that of 14.63% of outdoor colonies. The mean consumed bee feed for indoor colonies was 3.59 kg which was lower than that of 4.77 kg for outdoor ones. The result also showed both the indoor and outdoor colonies behaved good spring propagation but the latter hives increased colonies size faster than the former ones. The recorded temperature data showed indoor temperature changed softly while the outdoor ones fluctuated with a wide range so that the outdoor colonies experienced repeated clustering and loosing which accounted for shorter lifespan for wintering bees. The effect of wintering colonies behaved for indoor colonies than those for outdoor ones, which implied that indoor overwintering is preferred for colonies in northwest China during the long term wintering.