# Warre Hive Questions



## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

RJ,

1) Brood in just about any hive will be near the entrance with honey stores away from the entrance. Whether you add boxes to the top or bottom, stores will be at the top. In a Langstroth you top super only, keeping the brood relatively stationary. In a Warre hive you add boxes below, and as they build comb downward they move the brood nest down, and keep filling the top with honey stores. At the end of the season your surplus honey will be at the top. I would never use a queen excluder in any hive. You can top super Warre hives, but you'll want some comes in the supers to give them a "ladder." Otherwise they'll build the combs upward from the top of the bars below, leading to horrible cross comb. 

I've got about 15 Warre hives and I find they are very easy to bottom super. I'll lift a couple boxes off at a time if it's a tall hive, add the new boxes below and but it back together. It takes little time.

2) You could also make frames for your Warre. What it sounds like you've done is created 8 frame Langstroth boxes, which is fine, but it isn't really a Warre hive. Box size/cavity size was an important part of Warre's philosophy.

You can find answers to a lot of these questions here: http://warre.biobees.com

Cheers,
Matt


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## RJ9002 (Sep 16, 2011)

Matt,

Thanks for the response. The fact that I didn't know was that the bees will physically move the brood down as they grow. See.. Learning already. Think I will try supering from the top, but another question.

In order to provide the "ladder" to get to the upper level, can I pull a bar from the lower level and replace with an empty bar and then place the full bar in the upper empty level?

As far as the modification.. I understand that the original intent of the warre was to be suatainable and maintainable, but my goal was to make pieces interchangeable between to different types, so my version is a little larger than normal and hence heavier when full.

15 Warres?? Where do you keep them all? I have a very small backyard so I have been comtemplating approaching the local nurseries to see if they want some bees.

RJ


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## DonShackelford (Jan 17, 2012)

I'm planning to incorporate some virtues of Warre into a few Langs this year. I'm just returning to beekeeping, As a small timer, I see my market as chunk comb honey. As such, running 2 standard broods, a queen excluder, and a top bar super over it (with one honey comb moved up to center from below).
Even if the bees make a mess of the topbar super, I can just lift it off with excluder and cut it out. This seems to me to be the most economical way to produce comb honey. I started beekeeping as a kid because I loved chunk comb honey. Still do! 
Anyone doing this now?


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## Bush_84 (Jan 9, 2011)

Well I plan on supering my Warre this year. So I will be doing this, but with a Warre hive.


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## DonShackelford (Jan 17, 2012)

I understand in a Warre hive setup, the honeycomb you eat this year was the brood comb last year. Seems like that would ruin the taste and quality of comb honey. Has this been your experience?


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## Bush_84 (Jan 9, 2011)

From what I understand it doesn't, but last year was my first year in beekeeping. So far the hive I do have are still surviving, but I didn't get any honey from any of my hives. It was a bad beekeeping year. So I can't talk from experience on that one.


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## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

Don,

I've harvested hundreds of pounds of honey from my Warres the last couple years and I've seen no difference in the taste or color of the honey. It's almost exclusively what we sell in our store here in Portland.

Best,
Matt


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