Alternative Warré hTBH

Last Sunday we held a very successful training day on the management of horizontal Top Bar Hives and our thanks go to Gareth John for sharing his extensive knowledge.

Gareth John's
hTBH training session
(click any picture to enlarge)

Those present learned how to inspect a neglected hTBH hive and how to perform a split. The hive used for the training was a biobees style Kenyan hTBH.

The need for a new hTBH

At the wash-up session at the end of the training the discussion turned to adaptations to the hive design to minimise the problems encountered when working with horizontal hives. Whilst no absolute conclusions were reached the group agreed that the straight sided Tanzanian hive offered less problems than the angled catenary shaped Kenyan hive.

In addition, because at YABeeP we err on the more natural side of 'natural beekeeping', we generally favour the Warré hive over the hTBH because of its minimising disturbance on the bees. One benefit of the hTBH is the ease with which splits can be made to raise further colonies. However, because of it's size and shape, splits raised from a Kenyan hTBH with a wider top and sloping sides cannot be easily transferred to a Warré. Garth reported that Quentin had been experimenting making a hTBH using Warré comb dimensions. This news provided one of those 'eureka' moment for the group - why had we not thought of this before?

Typical Kenyan style hTBH (biobees
 model) note sloping sides resulting
in wide top bars - 430mm

Making a horizontal hive, using the Warré dimensions, would make usable breeding hives from which to make splits to go into Warré hives. It would also create a simpler to manage horizontal hive for those 'hands-on' beekeepers who like the horizontal style - in case you were not aware the surface area of Warré combs are a near match for the comb size on a Biobees hTBH which is probably the main hTBH of choice used in the UK. It

An additional bonus for a group like YABeeP would be that the frames/bars would then be interchangeable between hTBH and Warré hive types should emergency action be necessary e.g. providing emergency queens, etc.

The model
Fired by enthusiasm I have been experimenting with a design that would facilitate this and have arrived at this model which is simple and heap to make using the same seasoned untreated 25mm timber we used at the recent Warré hive building day.

This is not necessarily the best design, but it is simple to make, easier that the biobees model due to the 90 degree angles, and is constructed using glue & screw technology or glue & dowels for those non-metal converts.

The full 3D model of this hive can be viewed and downloaded here in Google Sketchup . (Google Sketchup is an excellent free 3d modelling programme which you an download here).

Showing roof and floor open

Roof and floor closed
(roof cover  omitted for clarity)

Note: Warré hive body dimensions

Width 300mm + (25mm x 2) / Depth 210mm + 25mm

presumes 25mm timber used

Standard Warré rebates
to hold top bars

Side bottom panels (shown in yellow) glued
 & screwed to provide bottom re-enforcement
and prevent sides warping

Version with windows
Left open; right closed
(click to enlarge)

Observations:

• Internal height/width = 210mm x 300mm - pp Warré design
• Length = variable as dictated by timber but a suggested minimum of 1,000mm
• Sides rebated 10mm x 10mm to hold Warré top bars (see below for info' on top bars for this hive)
• Top re-enforcing = 25mm x 40mm strip around top end/sides set 20mm below side walls. As well as re-enforcing to prevent warping this recess keeps rain out of top section and provides an anchor from which to hinge the lid.
• Bottom re-enforcing provided by 2 glued & screwed base pieces - shown in yellow in above illustration.
• Lid hinged to hive body - no lifting/storage required. Hinge stops provided by pieces of nylon strapping screwed one end to hive body the other end to lid.
• Follower board used as per other hTBHs
• Entrance holes in both ends plus centre and each end of non-opening side. Other than user selected entrance these are all plugged but provide alternative options. (Author suggests use of end rather than central entrances for less experienced beekeepers).
• Single 35mm entrance hole used rather than 2/3 smaller entrances at each point as bees naturally choose and control a single entrance.
• Opening base to give beekeeper access options in an emergency
• No varroa screen but varroa can be counted using hinged central floor piece - an optional varroa tray and draw can be added below this base opening if required
• Space above top bars for insulation and storage.
• Requires less inspections as attached combs are more easily cut with a short straight side - especially if using half frame top bars - see below. This allows bees to naturally attach their comb to the hive sides so they an more easily control their hive atmosphere (Nestduftwärmebindung).

Half Frame Top Bars

The top bars used in a standard Warré hive provide both an anchor for the bees to build comb in that box plus a space to allow them to pass vertically from box to box. This hive however is operated horizontally so a different technique is required. 

The suggested solution is to use standard sized Warré top bars (W24mm x D10mm x L320mm) with comb guides - either a short vertical bar or a truncated triangle added below - see illustration below. As with other hTBHs this encourages the bees to build along the bar to prevent cross-combing. The 12mm space between each bar  is then filled with a 12mm shim - see the following illustrations.

This not only allows bars to be transferred to a standard Warré if you are making breeding splits, but it also allows more flexibility those choosing to operate this as a stand-alone hTBH as shim sizes can be varied to accommodate comb different width between brood and honey storage areas.

Top bars types
Left: with bar  - Centre: standard Warré - Right: with triangle

Showing top bars with shims (in yellow) between

Finally, Quentin & Gareth are also experimenting with half sided frames to their top bars to a) make them easier to remove without damaging comb and b) provide a more robust anchor for the new comb. Remember in the hTBH arrangement, unlike in a standard Warré, the combs are occasionally inspected and moved. New honey comb can prove weak and break under load, especially if cut or moved.

Their design provides dowels at each end as shown in Quentin's photos below. These dowels fit fairly tight to the sides of the hive so the bees can propilise them to the sides to control hive atmosphere. The beekeeper therefore needs to cut the propolis between the dowel and hive to free them. 

Sets of half sided Warré frames
(Picture © Quentin Jordan)

Dowels extend approx 135mm
(Picture © Quentin Jordan)

Quentin's version:

Quentin's version to
Warré's 300 x 210 dimentions
(Picture © Quentin Jordan)

(Picture © Quentin Jordan)

Quentin's even has a Warré style

roof & quilt box

(Picture © Quentin Jordan)

Simon's version:

Simon makes one as well!
(Picture © Simon Billett)

Now doesn't that look easier to make
than a Kenyan? Room for deep top bars as well.
(Picture © Simon Billett)

(Picture © Simon Billett)

© Robin Morris - YABeeP

Inside a Warré hive

Sadly John lost a Warré hive this winter. This was not 'die-out' but more of a 'knock down'! Let me explain....

He keeps his hives on a friend's field quite distant to where he lives so doesn't get to visit them often, especially over winter. When he checked on them a couple of weeks ago, the first time this year I believe, he found the Warré had been knocked over and, as it's on a steep slope, had broken apart. With all 3 boxes open to the elements the bees had no chance, especially this winter - the coldest for 100 years according to the Met Office.

John thinks it was either a deer or a bulk drop of snow from the tree above that caused it to go. A lesson to us all to ensure that the hive is securely tethered and strapped together as a single unit as a fallen hive only open at one end in one piece may survive. I have accordingly updated the 'Siting your Hive' section on this page.

 There was plenty of honey and stores so it is pretty certain that without the topple and breaking open it would have survived. John kindly brought two boxes over last week so that I could photograph them - see below - he will also bring a box to this Saturday's meeting so everyone an check it out.

Our commiserations go to John and thanks to him for letting us see the contents. On a positive his National is OK and so he has still got bees. At least with the destroyed Warré he'll have 3 excellent bait boxes!

© Robin Morris - YABeeP

Upper box of 3
(click any image to enlarge)

Lower box

John points out a play cup

close up of play cups

Boxes 2 & 3 as they grew

Built from a National hive he even used
the frames - brilliant recycling John, well done! 

Starting a Warré hive

Our 30th April 2011 hive building workshop is drawing closer and although there are still a few weeks to go there is much to do for those starting their first bee hive or planning their first Warré:

Homework
Although we at YABeeeP practice the easier and less-interventionist natural beekeeping, we recognise that keeping honeybees is a responsibility so everyone intending to keep bees needs to do their homework first.

First
You need to learn about bees, their biology, physiology and needs. Whilst you will carry on doing this throughout your beekeeping life, you do need to learn the basics of bee biology, habits and behaviour to be a good beekeeper. A good basic grounding in how bees behave in nature and what they want, rather than what we as bee farmers want, will help you understand exactly why we favour sustainable beekeeping over the now outdated conventional beekeeping practices carried out in large highly managed colonies.

There are lots of books and websites on bee biology you can seek out. A good place to start is the US Cooperative Extension System - Follow the many links under Honey Bee Biology but bear in mind this is not a sustainable beekeeping website. For another great little summary, download this 9 page paper from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory -  pdf download (7mb)

Secondly
You'll need to learn about the principles and philosophies of Warré beekeeping. This page has been written to help get you started in this. Please make sure that you read this page and the information it points to. Whilst you will learn much by being a YABeeP member, if you keep bees in a Warré without understanding the principles and philosophies you will be an irresponsible beekeeper.

Finally
You need to get ready for building your own hive. If you are doing this as part of our hive building workshop you will be making a Warré hive – the major decision about what hive type to build has taken for you by the group. The day will be challenging enough with one hive design without overseeing alternative hive models. Of course, if you want to build your own horizontal Top Bar Hive (aka Kenyan or long hive) or another variant you are free to do so - just follow the Starting a Horizontal Hive link instead.

However, there are elements of the build where you will have to make your own mind up regarding what you want. Let's call them optional extras, customisations or pimping, to give it a modern parlance. To make it easier for the beginner each option will have a recommendation, but you do need to consider whether you wish to go with that or not.

You must Choose......
The five choices you will need to have made by the day of the workshop are as follows:

1. Standard or modified Warré hive?
I have written a separate page on this topic here, please read it to make your choice. The recommendation is that you build the modified version, unless you are confident that you are going to be able to get hold of a swarm or you are prepared to wait a year or two for one.

2. Windows
Do you want to have windows in your hives? Windows aren’t necessary but they are useful to:

• see what's going on inside the hive without opening it, 
• checking whether boxes are occupied without hefting (partially lifting it)
• showing friends, neighbours and particularly children who will be fascinated, a great educational tool.

If you have windows they should be used very sparingly - don't use often or for long periods; just an occasional quick peek should do and never in the December to February (inclusive) period. Remember any use of your windows disturbs the bees and effect the internal hive temperature.

So what's the downside of windows?
The main one is time. Building a Warré is relatively simple in that the main body is just a series of square boxes – 2 sides and 2 ends, simply glued and screwed together, quick and easy to make. By adding a window you are doubling the work involved in making each box. Please bear in mind that if you do choose to have windows then you probably won't finish building your hive at the workshop and will need to complete your hive at home. You will make a box or two and therefore know what to do and how to do it. However, it is  something to consider. Adding windows will also increase the cost as there is extra material required – that said the increase should be well under £10 per hive of 4 boxes. (We haven't yet priced the wood but I'm guesstimating that a 4 box hive with windows should come in at under £50 all in.)

Despite these drawbacks, I would personally always recommend windows.

3. Varroa inspection floor
Varroa is an insect parasite mite that attacks honeybees. Not natural to our native honeybee, it jumped species and was spread around the globe by beekeepers seeking a 'better' (i.e. more productive) bee'. Yes, man's greed actually introduced one of beekeepings biggest problems to Europe and the US. All honeybee colonies in the UK will carry the varroa mites, except for a few isolated pockets of the country. It's a problem that we now have to live with.

Warré Sump Floor
with optional varroa floor & feeder
(click to enlarge)
Update: I now use a single 25mm round hole
rather than the slit entrance shown

Conventional beekeepers and many sustainable beekeepers monitor their mite levels using a varroa monitoring floor – a fine mesh that allows the mite, but not the bee, to fall through to a sticky catching board. They can then, using tables that factor in the time of year, count the number of fallen mite to try and estimate their infection rate. If it gets too high they treat the bees with chemicals and other non-natural treatments which we think actually helps weaken the bees further. This page is not the place to debate the pros and cons of treatment but suffice it to say that in a Warré hive you will be relying on the bees rather than chemicals to manage their own mite infections which they can readily do if you don't open the hive to inspect them like conventional beekeeping demands¹.

When Warré designed his hive varroa did not exist outside Asia where it only lived on its local species which had evolved over millennia to cope with it. I suspect that had that not been the case he would still have opted for his basic floor because of his management methodology. I choose to never treat my bees for varroa infection² so I take the attitude 'why bother monitor them if I'm not going to treat?' A standard Warré floor is therefore quite suitable if you don't fancy the additional work and expense of a varroa inspection floor, unless you choose to feed.................

Personally I use a sump floor without a varroa screen on all my Warré hives as I believe it better replicates a natural tree cavity. There have been several reports of colonies dying over winter where the accumulation of bee bodies on the floor (they are not removed in the very cold weather) blocks the exit trapping in and starving the live bees.  If I need to I can still monitor the varroa drop in a sump floor without a screen - it works just as well.

4. Sugar Feeder
Most conventional beekeepers, and some natural beekeepers feed their bees. Sounds kind and helpful doesn't it? Well it's not. There is only one natural product to feed your bees and that is their own honey which they made themselves. What these beekeepers feed their bees is a sugar solution³. Now although sugar is a near-natural product and has similarities with honey, it's heavily processed and ain't natural to bees! Just study the way bees break down varying proportions of fructose, glucose, water, oil and special enzymes to see why they make honey, not sugar. Their honey also carries many other trace elements and beneficial bacteria which is good for them - it's a a bit like comparing mother's breast milk to formula, mum's has the beneficial microbes, anti-allergens, etc..

The reason why beekeepers feed sugar is that they have either stolen too much of their honey for their own use/sale or that they are too nervous to trust their own bees. They think that they know more about the bees needs than the creatures themselves do. You will work out from this that I am against feeding bees - I am!

That said there are those who do, especially those who feel that weak bees need help. If you want to join their ranks then you'll need a device to feed them inside the hive⁴.

There are two ways this can be done:

Top Feeder - Abbé Warré himself designed two of these, one for use for use in Spring & Summer and another for autumn feeding which you can see here. My advice is don't build or use one. You should already have read the Warré information signposted on a previous page, this explains the importance of retaining the colony's heat and scent; it's 'Nestduftwärmebindung'. This is key to a healthy Warré hive. Adding and changing a top feeder and replacing the quilt compromises this by opening the hive more often.

Warré's Spring/Summer feeder
© http://thebeespace.net

Bottom Feeder - These allow you to put liquid or cake sugar (depending on the time of year) in the hive below the colony so not disturbing the Nestduftwärmebindung. The same feeding box can double as a Varroa Tray (see 3. above) so you could kill two birds with one stone. See this page for instructions on 'How to Modify Standard Warré Floor'. You can use it to either monitor varroa with the mesh screen in or feed sugar with the mesh out. The disadvantage of a bottom feeder is that in very cold weather bees won't go down to feed, only upwards. That said, their not feeding in the very cold is probably preferable to having no quilt and a void above their brood nest that you have with a top feeder.

As I don't feed then I'n NOT going to recommend a varroa/feeder box but it's your choice.

5. Top Bars
A Warré is a top bar hive so has bars at the top of each hive box - the clue's in the name! Unlike in a horizontal top bar hive (hTBH) the bars don't form the roof so they need spaces between the bars for the bees to pass up and down.

Warré's horizontal bars
(click to enlarge)

Horizontal Bars - Warré's design provides for horizontal top bars each spaced 12mm apart to allow the queen to pass between them. Many of us have success with this set-up. However, it is not uncommon for bees to fill the box they are in then stop building comb rather than move down to the next box, especially in their first year of occupation. If this happens then as more bees hatch they get overcrowded and swarm. Now swarming isn't a problem to a natural beekeeper but you don't really want a mass exodus of bees when there are more boxes below your colony for them to fill.

Why are we seeing this problem now when Warré didn't experience it? The answer to this is probably that in man's past greed to have bees that produce more honey we have introduced larger bees from around the globe. These have bred with our native bees to the extent that there are no untainted 'native' bees surviving other than in tiny isolated pockets of the UK. It may well be that these larger bees need bigger gaps. Because of this problem many Warré beekeepers have been experimenting with.......

Alternative vertical bars
(click to enlarge)

Vertical Top Bars - These are the same top bars but rotated around 90^o to the vertical. These provide the same strength as the horizontal bars but a much bigger space between each one. Similar vertical shims under the top bars are also proving successful in hTBHs where the need to have straight comb is more important than in a Warré. There is some evidence to suggest that when crossing the bars from one box to the next the queen, who doesn't like to leave the safety of the comb, will gather a cluster of bees around her to make this passage. The wider spacing in a vertical bar hive more readily allows this.

Your final choice therefore is to decide whether to have the traditional horizontal bars or the verticals. If you want a recommendation then I would suggest trying vertical bars; at least that's what I'd do, but you pay's your money and takes your choice!

Whichever type you choose it is important that your bars are completely covered in bees wax when they are installed as there is strong evidence that the queen won't travel over bare wood to go down into the next box and this may be a major factor in premature swarming in a new Warré. It's easy to wax your bars, just buy a beeswax tablet from a reputable local beekeeper and rub it thoroughly all over your top bars when you install them.

It's usual to pin them with something like panel pins, just to stop them from moving when your shift the boxes about. Make sure that you leave the heads of the heads of the pins slightly proud so you can easily pull them out without damaging the bars when you eventually remove the comb to harvest.

Once you have weighed up the pros and cons of each of the above choices you are ready to build your Warré hive.


© Robin Morris - YABeeP

You may also be interested in these pages - Finishing touches to a Warré hive (2011) and the updated  Completing your Warré hive 2012
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Footnotes:

1 - Bees keep their hive temperature at around 35^oC. The varroa mite cannot breed above 33^oC. By not opening the hive the temperature is maintained above the varroa's breeding temperature so keeping them to levels the bees can manage. Is it any wonder that conventional beekeeping with its 'pull it apart each week' inspections have problems?

2 - This is not strictly true as I will sugar dust them if they are opened like at the annual harvesting/winter prep period. I won't open the just to treat them. Dusting bees with icing sugar stimulates them to groom the sugar off. It also clogs the sticky pads the mite use to cling onto the bees so the grooming knocks then off. It's considered to be the most 'natural' friendly varroa treatment so worth doing if you have access to the bees for another reason.

3 - Never, under any circumstances, feed bees honey you have bought. Most UK honey is blended with honeys from around the world. It is not sterilised as heat ruins the honey so may contain disease spores and pesticide from other countries and could well introduce diseases into your hive and the area. This is a very real threat so DON'T DO IT.

4 - Sugar must be fed inside the hive or you risk attracting bees from other colonies who will rob out your bees and leave them without any stores.

2011 Adapted Warré hive

This year we have decided to go back to building Warré hives as our standard model for beginners, just as we did in 2009. Read this page to learn more about these wonderful Natural Beekeeping hives.

Swarm of honeybees
(click to enlarge)

Once built you will naturally want to populate your hive with bees. By far the best way to do this is by using a natural swarm.

But there's a problem.....
Unfortunately though, swarms are getting more difficult to source (see this page for more information on getting your bees). YABeeP members are consequently having to source nucs as the next best alternative. A nuc is, in effect, a temporary miniature hive. The problem we have though is that nucs are designed to populate the much larger conventional beehive that we don't favour using. Therefore this gives us the problem in getting the nuc frames, with their attending bees, brood and stores, into our smaller Warré hives. Whilst it can be done by shaking the bees off or chopping the frames there are problems with this, especially for a new beekeeper.

...... and a solution
Consequently, to get around this problem we are suggesting that you build a adapted Warré so that the frames just, more or less, slot into your hive - easy-peasy. You will note that I did say 'more or less' as you will still have to chop off much of the frame lugs to slip your frames in as standard frames come with long lugs but this is easily done using branch loppers, bolt cutters or a hacksaw.

Standard Warré 
(click to enlarge)

This adaptation is a recommendation we are making, not a requirement; you remain free to build your hive to Warrés original and proven dimensions if you prefer.

Recommended Adapted Hive
If you choose to make the adapted hive then your hive's dimensions increase in plan from the original internal dimensions of 300 x 300mm to 300 x 365mm. The 365mm accommodates a British National brood frame at 356mm¹ plus a 4.5mm gap each side to allow for some slack – after all we are not precision carpenters! NB: It is best to keep the gap each end to less than a 'bee space' to allow the bees to plug the gap for their thermodynamic control if they so choose. Ain't natural beekeeping great!

Adapted Warré
(click to enlarge)

Additionally, you need to extend the depth of your top box, the one that the bees go in, from 210mm to 218mm, again to accommodate the depth of the frame. This increased depth only needs to be done on the top box.

Some Warré purists will argue that this small modification goes away from his tried and tested design but we feel that 'needs must' for the sake of gently installing the bees and the minimal increase in volume is a small price to pay for not chopping & cropping or shaking the bees off their brood & stores.

You can download a pdf file (312 KB) showing the Modified Warré hive dimensions here (when the page opens click on the 'download' link in the top left corner).

© Robin Morris - YABeeP
20 Feb 2011


¹ The dimensions quoted apply fitting standard UK nuc frames - National or Smith. If you are outside the UK you will need to adapt these dimensions to accommodate your local standard frame size.

Warré Hive Introduction

This year we have decided to go back to building Warré hives at our member's hive building workshop day (30th April 2011 - see 2011 dates page).

Warré made from recycled
pallets with 2 starter boxes
(click any image to enlarge)

The Warré hive is cheap and simple yet makes an ideal hive for those starting beekeeping for the first time and is the perfect introduction to natural beekeeping. Indeed, there are many of us, including me, who feel that the Warré is THE hive for natural beekeeping as it allows the bees to manage their own affairs and leaves them virtually undisturbed to do what they do best.

That is not to say that Warré beekeeping is about leaving your hives to luck. Far from it; as a beekeeper you are fully responsible for ensuring that your bees stay healthy and disease free whilst in your care. However, the way that you do this in a Warré hive is far different. You need to learn to read your bees, spend time observing them to notice differences in behaviour, mood and demeanour. You will watch them and note what they are bringing into and taking out of the hive just like the beekeepers of old used to do. In all of this you will become so much more of an expert than were you to rip your bee's home apart each week just to inspect their internal workings.

Preparation
The best way to start on this journey is to learn all you can before starting, both about the principles and techniques of Warré beekeeping and about the biology and physiology of those wonderful creatures the bees themselves. The following is a list of some of the Warré resources available for you to read as part of this preparation. A further page will be added giving resources you can investigate on the bee.

Rooftop Warré with
modified varroa floor

Everyone in YABeeP who takes up Warré beekeeping will be expected to familiarise themselves with this information - remember you, and only you, are responsible for your bees.

Information on the Warré system

'Beekeeping for All' (book/web) - The best place to start is to read the book 'Beekeeping for All' written by Abbé Emile Warré himself . This book, translated into English by Patricia and David Heaf, can either be bought as a published print edition (link) or downloaded as a free pdf download (8,660 KB), though the download is 155 pages long so makes a very large print job should you choose not to read it on screen. Bear in mind it was last revised in 1948 so Warré's writing style has dated though it contains excellent information.

The Bee-Friendly Beekeeper - Dr. David Heaf (book) available from bookshops or direct from the publisher here. I cannot recommend this book strongly enough - it should be on every natural beekeeper's bookshelf whatever type of hive they use. It gives the best argued and referenced reasons to go down the natural beekeeping route, includes much on sustainability and draws on the wealth of knowledge David gets from the international Warré forum he runs - order it now!

Warré hive construction plan (375KB download) - A free pdf download © David Heaf showing the construction plans for a standard Warré hive - YABeeP members please see the footnote¹. Please note that the plans have an error that David is aware of in that the quilt box dimensions are shown as 340 x 340mm external, the same as the boxes. According to Abbé Warré the quilt should be 5mm less than the boxes (335 x 335) to allow the hesian to be wrapped up the sides to wick off moisture - see here for a picture. For a photo guide on construction see the Warrébeek website hive construction pages.

Online resource (web) - There is plenty of excellent information on the web. The best place to start is the Warré Beekeeping entry page on the Natural Beekeeping Network (aka Biobees website). Just follow the links on the left hand side for further gateways into the Warré beekeeping world.

Towards Sustainable Beekeeping (web article) – this pdf download (570KB) of a four-part article by David Heaf serialised in The Beekeeper's Quarterly 2008, supplemented with ethical introduction provides excellent reading

Internet Forums

English Warré e-group and the

Warrés in winter

Natural Beekeeping Network Warre section.

'Why I Worry about the Warré' response - This excellent paper was written by David Heaf in response to an article that a former Chairman of the BBKA, who really should have known better, wrote criticising the Warré hive. In 7 pages it neatly covers each aspect of the hive and illustrates exactly why they are so good - it makes a great summary paper on the benefits of the Warré. If you want to see the original article to put the response in context it can be downloaded from the Warré Yahoo Group website here.

'At the Hive Entrance' (Book) by H. Storch - "How to Know what happens inside the hive by observation of the outside." This out of print book is prized by beekeepers but can often be picked up here or occasionally at Amazon here.

Resources on the YABeeP website

Finishing touches to a Warré (vertical) hive
How to Modify a standard Warré floor
Warré hive lift
Moving a swarm into your Warré hive
Should I site my hive in the shade or sun?

Fanning workers move into a Warré hive

Remember, this list is far from exhaustive. There is so much to learn about bees. Hopefully this will get you started on the research phase of your learning. The really exciting part is yet to come - learning from your own bees. The more you learn now, the more confident you will be when this time comes and, don't forget, as a YABeeP member you will have the support and resource of a friendly group around you.

© Robin Morris - YABeeP
14 Feb 2011


Footnote 1: YABeeP members thinking of doing their own work and making/preparing their own Warré hive before our 30th April Hive Building Workshop need to be aware that we shall be suggesting making an adapted version of his hive to slightly different dimensions (internal dimensions of 300 x 365 rather than Warré's 300 x300mm). This is to make it easier to install bees for those getting their bees on nucs.