It's a bit of a misnomer.
Everyone likes to equate a bee to a cow or a chicken—not so.
It is that colony, the cluster of bees living on that comb, that is the living organism. That is the revenue unit, and that's how you need to be seeing it.
It is more akin to a gopher that comes up in the spring, walks around in your yard and then goes back into dormancy in the winter time, or a bear.
It is the hive that is the living organism.