The Warré hive has several important features that set it apart from other beehives. These include:
Square hive bodies with internal dimensions of 300mm (about 11 and 13/16") and a height of 210mm (about 8 1/4”).
Conventional Warré hives do not use frames; only affixed top bars (8 per box). We do, however, offer frames for Warré hives.
A shallow, sawdust filled box, or "quilt", that rests on the upper hive body and insulates the hive.
A sloped and vented roof assembly.
A relatively small entrance, but one that is adequate even during strong nectar flows.
First, let's look at how the Warré's size and shape helps our bees. In nature, the most common site for a bee colony's nest is a cavity in the trunk of a tree. They begin building their nest by constructing combs which are attached to the ceiling of the cavity. These combs are first used to raise the bees' young (brood) and as the combs extend downward, the area where the brood is raised also moves downward into the freshly constructed wax. The comb above is eventually abandoned for brood rearing and used for honey storage. In the late fall or early winter, the bees are clustered together, keeping warm near the bottom of the nest with their winter stores (honey) above them. Throughout the winter season, the bees move slowly upward, consuming their stores. If the bee cluster reaches the top of the tree cavity before the first food sources appear in spring, the colony may die of starvation.
Given that a cluster of bees is round, and that the bees like mostly to move straight upward when consuming winter stores, the ideal beehive would be round and vertical; just like a tree cavity. Since a round hive is difficult to construct, Warré felt that the most viable option is a square, vertical hive. He also felt that 30cm (about 11 13/16") is the ideal inside dimension to accommodate a bee cluster and keep nearly all of the winter stores directly above that cluster. Your bees will not starve in a Warré hive unless there are just no stores in the hive at all.
Another very notable advantage of the Warré's shape and size comes from the fact that because the bee cluster is close to all of the hive walls and is therefore heating the walls somewhat, little condensation occurs on them. The condensation that frequently forms in other types hives is a significant contributor to mold, mildew and bee diseases such as nosema. Sometimes, condensation can become such a problem that the bees get wet and die of exposure. Winter losses due to this are quite common.
In regards to the top bars that are used instead of frames, Warré had numerous objections to using framed hives (see Harmful Modern Methods). The eight top bars that are used in each box have simple, wax coated comb guides instead of foundation sheets. Wire brads are used to secure these top bars in place. The bees build their own, natural wax combs from these top bars. The sides of the combs are then (typically) attached to the interior walls of the hive. This makes for a healthy and quite natural environment for honeybees.
Every hive has moisture in it that must be allowed to escape to the outside. So next, let's examine the Warré hive's unique quilt and roof combination. While other hives are highly dependent on ventilation to prevent excess moisture build-up and condensation, the Warré uses a sawdust filled quilt box, which insulates and allows for very slow air movement through the hive, while mitigating moisture out of the hive through the roof assembly. The whole idea behind the quilt is that it mimics the top of a tree cavity; soft, decomposing wood that allows moisture to escape instead of condensing into droplets. Insulating the hive, rather than just ventilating it, allows the bees to expend far less energy keeping warm (consuming much less honey during the winter months), while also allowing the nest to retain its unique scent. These benefits are achieved without the risk of excessive moisture build-up. Another benefit of reduced airflow through the hive, may be that the hive is less detectable by predators. The sweet smell of honey emanating from a hive can attract robber bees, yellow jackets or even bears from long distances away. To learn more about the quilt box, click here.
Finally, let's discuss the hive entrance. Other hives, especially Langstroth hives, have large entrances that require the use of reducers, which can work well if used properly. But large entrances really aren’t necessary, and it's not easy to know when and how much to reduce them (especially for beginners, which most of our customers are). Leave the reducer in too long and you'll create a traffic jam that impairs productivity. A wide open entrance often leads to the colony's stores being stolen. Warré felt that it was best to settle on a smaller entrance, which makes it much less vital to monitor things so closely. For several years, our hives had entrances that were approximately 1cm tall and 17cm wide. But even these relatively small entrances would need to be reduced at times, and robbing screens were often needed during times of nectar dearth in order to protect the hive from being robbed by other bee colonies. After years of doing feral bee colony removals from buildings, I came to realize that some of the strongest, healthiest colonies were using very small entrances. Sometimes the entrances were so small, that worker bees could barely get into the space without dropping one of their pollen sacks while they squeezed through. I thought, if these colonies could survive and thrive with these tiny entrances, then surely I could shrink the entrances on our hives. The hives that we currently build have an entrance that is 1cm tall by 6cm wide. I feel this has been a good solution to many problems that were being caused by the improper use of robbing screens; a product that has since been discontinued. There are still two scenarios during which I recommend using a piece of wood to reduce the entrance to only about two bees wide. The first is for a few weeks after installing a package of bees into the hive, and the second is during honey harvesting. Other than that, you shouldn’t need to concern yourself with reducing the entrance.
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