Standard Warre′ and Modified Warre′ Hives

1. Standard Warre′ and Modified Warre′ Hives

2. Octagonal Warre′

3. Warre′ Design • Hive bodies are typically square with smaller internal dimensions (30cmX30cm). • A standard Warré hive uses only top bars, not frames. • The bees build wax combs, without foundation, starting from these top bars. The sides of the combs are then attached to the interior walls of the hive. This makes for a healthier, more natural bee environment. • An insulating box called a quilt rests on the upper hive body, absorbing moisture from the hive while at the same time insulating to allow the hive to retain heat and scent. • A sloped and vented wooden roof assembly allows moisture to escape from the quilt to the atmosphere. • The entrance is sized so that it rarely needs modification.

4. Mimics a tree cavity

5. Screened Bottom

6. Quilt Box

7. Sloped and vented top

8. Nestduftwärmebindung

9. Nestduftwärmebindung Nest sent heat trapping Retention of heat and scents, including pheromones and possibly other volatile substances necessary for full colony health produced by the colony This concept is taken from a book by the Austrian beekeeper Johann Thür published in 1946. In it he presents the hive of Abbé Christ which is almost identical in concept to Warré's 'People's Hive'.

10. Limited Management, Minimal Intervention

12. Extracting Top-Bar Combs

13. Considerations and Limitations • No costs of frames, foundation or queen excluder • Limited access to brood comb for inspection. • The modified Warré hive (with windows) allows for observation. • Bees like to work undisturbed in seclusion. • Retention of nest heat and scent; better control of temperature and humidity. • Comb built freestyle regarding cell-size and proportions of worker/drone • Honey stored in comb used once for brood. • No re-use of comb so workers have to draw new comb every year. Helps with swarm prevention. • Queen gets to lay on fresh comb every year

14. Considerations and Limitations • Only opened in the strict sense once a year at harvest as at the spring visit. • Boxes are added underneath without letting out hive heat or disturbing the bees. • Extraction by tangential basket extractor or crush and strain. Does not require expensive extracting set-up. • Evidence from Belgium and France where Warré hives have a longer history shows that they have Varroa burdens about one-tenth that of framed hives in the same apiary. • No sugar feeding, bees left adequate honey store for winter, therefore time and cost saving.

15. Beekeeping For All In a word, the People's Hive is practical. It will bring happiness to you and your dear bees, for, in using the People's Hive, you will certainly provide the most pleasant and logical home for them. Emile Warre′

16. Learn More • http://www.beethinking.com/  • http://www.thewarrestore.com/  • http://www.dheaf.plus.com/warrebeekeeping/warre_experiment_heaf.htm  • http://www.backyardhive.com/  • http://www.themelissagarden.com  • http://www.ruche-warre.com/  • http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/Top-Bar-Beekeeping-Method.aspx  • http://bee-folk.dreamwidth.org/13235.html