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The study was conducted on bee families of Apis mellifera carpatica and Apis mellifera ligustica breeds. The bees were housed in multi-storey hives. The experimental period was of 6 months. The resistance to wintering was evaluated on the basis of several apicultural indicators: mortality, feed intake during the winter, general state of the family. Mortality was 35% during wintering for the Carpathian bee and 52% for the Italian bee. The differences were very significant (p≤0.001). When wintering finished all bee families were in good strength. The general state of the bee family was as follows: the Carpathian bee had a strong family when wintering started and ended with a median power; it had a large number of young bees and sufficient reserves; no diarrhoea or mould were noticed; relative humidity was 74%. The Italian bee had a strong family when wintering started and ended with half of the power because of the high mortality during the winter; no diarrhoea or mould were noticed; relative humidity was 69%.