The Warre Hive

Some individuals are attracted to beekeeping’s lack of complicated modern technologies. In fact, most of the great inventions of modern beekeeping occurred in the mid-1800s. They include L. L. Langstroth’s 1851 removable frame hive, beeswax foundation for hive frames, the honey extractor, and the beekeeper’s smoker. While the durable Langstroth hive is the one most widely used to house managed colonies of honey bees, there are others. The Warre hive, pronounced “war-ray,” and the Kenyan top bar hive are two hives that use only wooden bars to support the sheets of honeycomb instead of complete frames. The Warre hive stands vertically and resembles a Langstroth hive in outward appearance. Brood nest and honey storage boxes are similarly stacked atop each other. The unique element of a Warre hive is the upper box, which slightly overhangs the hive. This box has a sloping, vented roof and a canvas floor. The box is filled with straw or other moisture-absorbing material to help control the atmosphere in the hive as well as hold hive scents. Abbe Emile Warre, who developed this arrangement in France and called it the “People’s Hive,” felt that it allowed the bees to control the temperature, humidity, and oxygen and carbon dioxide levels within the hive.

With the combs hanging unsupported from top bars in both Warre hives and Kenyan top bar hives, honey harvesting is destructive of the beeswax combs. Most honey is harvested by mashing the comb and draining the honey. Without full support of the combs as in the Langstroth hives, these hives are not well suited for transport. However, both hives are popular with beekeepers who want to provide pollination for gardens or intend to infrequently manipulate the hives. Beekeepers must delicately handle the U-shaped combs that the bees hang from simple top bars. In today’s photo, The Luddite, checks the fit of top bars for a Warre hive she is building. The complete Warre hive can be seen in the February 6, 2011 posting.

--Richard

Backyard Beekeeping

Backyard beekeeping is expanding in popularity, and it provides many benefits. First, our gardens and plantings of food crops benefit from the replacement of pollinators that have been disappearing in recent years. Another great benefit of backyard beekeeping is experienced by the beekeepers themselves. Planning for adding a couple of bee hives, attending adult education classes or a short course at the local beekeepers association, reading some beekeeping books and journals, ordering a package or nucleus colony of bees, building and painting the hives, and finally installing them in the hives make for an exciting break from any other endeavor. However, beekeeping becomes a true source of involvement of one’s attention once the bees start drawing out their beeswax nest, the queen starts laying eggs, brood starts developing, and we get to observe the intricate activity occurring in the colony. Many beekeepers find the bee hives such a source of interest that they become so thoroughly absorbed in observing the bees and tending to the hives that they are able to completely forget other daily activity or worry. As such, beekeeping becomes a source of relaxation or enjoyment. Many like to sit and simply watch the bees at the hive’s entrance and listen to the hum of the hive.

The Luddite, a busy New England Primary Care Provider, finds relaxation with her bees. In today’s picture, we see her in snow shoes visiting one of her Warre bee hives accompanied by her “official apiary dog,” Hannah. A Warre is a hive that stands vertically, approximating a hollow tree, the honey bee’s natural home. The Warre hive does not use frames as found in the conventional Langstroth hive. Instead, it employs simple wooden upper supports, similar to those used in a Kenyan top bar hive. The top of the Warre hive is comprised of a box filled with straw or other absorbent material. This box, used to control hive moisture is separated from the brood nest by canvas. The Luddite looks care free.

--Richard