This is going to be the first in never ending series of posts having to do with keeping Warre style hives at the BBE-Tech bee yards and for others I manage hives for.
Every hive has a major purpose and minor purposes as well. You can use any type of hive for any number of reasons, but some hives are better suited for specific tasks as their primary purpose.
I have worked plenty with Langstroth style hives in a honey production yard and seen their impact on making the beekeepers life in honey production a lot easier, there is no doubt.
However, I believe that the Langstroth hive is as effective in that manner as it is because the bees within it work and are treated, largely as a commodity.
The Warre hive has been designed to be conducive to honey production as well. However, the approach is to let the bees take care of themselves. They are not treated as a replaceable commodity but as self-sufficient creatures who are largely left to do what they do best.
It is also relatively easy for the beekeeper to harvest honey as they simply remove the honey that is in excess of the necessary amount of what the bees will need to survive over winter. Taking only those boxes from the top of the hive that are recognized as that excess, the beekeeper condenses the hive from 4 or more boxes t o2 or 3 boxes, depending on how much honey is needed for winter survival.
That’s pretty much it in a nutshell.
The beekeeper can then decide how much they want to (or don’t want to) intercede in the bees health care and hive maintenance as they determine necessary.
All of “my” hives, meaning those that won’t be adopted by new and rebuilding beekeepers in the area, will be placed in Warre style hives except for those I place into Kenyan Top Bar Hive’s for other purposes.
I am adapting the Abbe’s design a bit to accommodate current laws prohibiting fixed comb so that the top bars are removable as a Lang frame or a ktbh top bar is removable and inspect-able.
I am also adapting the dimensional specifications to accommodate easy construction using common dimensional lumber and ‘typical’ tools found in most people’s garage or shop.
Feel free to follow my adventures in Warre beekeeping as I work to make things as successful as I can help in regards to having healthy honey bees around.
