# First Warre hive - slightly modified



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

Here are some pics of my slightly modified Warre Hive. The purpose of this hive is mostly just for observation and not to harvest,

3 differences are:
Commonly available pine wood here is 35mm x 110mm, so my hive walls are a lot thicker than the standard plans. 
I have put observation windows in the front.
The roof section does not overlap over the quilt.

I am going to put some old wax and honey mixture in the hive to see if I can attract a swarm - I managed to do this a few weeks ago with my Langstroth.

I havent cut the top bars yet, I will probably go with side bars with the front one being quite short - not to obstruct the view.


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

A few more pics, better lighting


----------



## JConnolly (Feb 21, 2015)

Pretty. You might want to build a third box, my experience was that the colony grew into three boxes pretty fast.


----------



## little_john (Aug 4, 2014)

HawkI said:


> Commonly available pine wood here is 35mm x 110mm, so my hive walls are a lot thicker than the standard plans.


Very nicely made. 

BTW, if you should ever decide to build any non-observation Warre hives, then the Russian 'Alpine' Hive variant might be worth considering, as their 108mm quarter-height(***) boxes would suit your supply of wood perfectly.
LJ

(***) I say "quarter-height" as Warre's original design was for a 400mm box height. He changed to 200mm after complaints from his assistants about their weight, and that frequently only the top half of the 400mm boxes were found to contain capped honey.


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

little_john said:


> Very nicely made.
> 
> BTW, if you should ever decide to build any non-observation Warre hives, then the Russian 'Alpine' Hive variant might be worth considering, as their 108mm quarter-height(***) boxes would suit your supply of wood perfectly.
> LJ.


Thanks, I think I will give that crack next...


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

Finally in


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

So, after a week of putting honey out, a nice swarm has moved in...


----------



## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

HawkI said:


> So, after a week of putting honey out, a nice swarm has moved in...


Congrats with the swarm!

A nice pieces of work you have done; I wish I had time for that (none).

Your top-bars are are actually exactly what I use in my deep horizontals. 
I got lots of those in rotation right now - those temp solutions that tend to just stay in place permanently and work fine just as-is.


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

GregV said:


> Congrats with the swarm!
> 
> A nice pieces of work you have done; I wish I had time for that (none).
> 
> ...


Thanks. I'm pretty much hooked now, I'm gonna make one or two more hives this week...


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

Does anyone know how disturbed the bees get when you view them through the observation Window. I've tried to check other posts about how often to inspect a hive but that is clearly meant for the top of type hive inspection. 

So basically do the bees get disturbed, should I leave them alone for the first week or two while they settle in?


----------



## Jlockhart29 (Apr 29, 2016)

I have found once the box is full you have a hard time seeing anything except at night using a flash light. To many bees. Doing this you can still tell of you have capped honey on what frames and of all are drawn out ect. Any time you open the window or irritates them a little. You'll hear the hum but nothing that launches an attack or such. But then I keep sweet bees. Unless I'm doing a sugar roll i normally work them in a pair of shorts and that's it. Life is to short for nasty bees!lol BTW I have full frames in mine that I modified from Lang frames. Firm believer in sugar rolls and ox vaping at least down hear to keep bees long term.


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

10 days after the swarm moved in, the bees have been building comb at quite a rate.

One question - every morning there seems to be a fair amount of moisture on the glass(See left side). but it is gone by the end of the day. Is this something to worry about?


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

two more Warre hives on their way...


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

Two more Warren hives built and in the garden. Trying to attract two swarms.

And one for a mate...


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

Second Warre - just had a swarm move in - quite a lot of bees in this swarm - my guess is around 1000 + bees.


----------



## little_john (Aug 4, 2014)

HawkI said:


> Second Warre - just had a swarm move in - quite a lot of bees in this swarm - my guess is around 1000 + bees.


Nice one. Looks like Jo-Burg and the Warre Hive make a good combination ... 

Re: the condensation coming and going - I'd say that was a pretty normal event - moisture condensing out onto a relatively cold surface during the cool of the night, than disappearing as that surface warms-up during the day. There's a lot of moisture generated inside a beehive during the course of a season !
LJ


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

little_john said:


> Nice one. Looks like Jo-Burg and the Warre Hive make a good combination ...
> 
> Re: the condensation coming and going - I'd say that was a pretty normal event - moisture condensing out onto a relatively cold surface during the cool of the night, than disappearing as that surface warms-up during the day. There's a lot of moisture generated inside a beehive during the course of a season !
> LJ


Thanks - your answer makes perfect sense. JHB has a fantastic moderate climate - even in winter. I would say 80% of the year the min/max is between 50 and 70°F in a sheltered part of the garden. It also helps that Joburg has a massive urban forest - not the biggest in the world as many joburgers incorrectly claim but certainly very big.


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

1 month in and the hives are all progressing really well - I try not to disturb the bees too much.


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

latest pics


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

View attachment 44429


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

We have come through our winter and in full blown spring here, actually winter was so mild that the hives have been active the whole of winter. Even though spring starts 1 Sept, the bees have been very active since early August and have been returning with Pollen. All the hives are packed with comb and the it’s going great. At this stage, I’m reluctant to harvest any honey, does anyone know if this makes any difference to the overall happiness of the bees? I have a beekeeper friend and he says the bees become restless and agressive If you don’t harvest.


----------



## John_M (Aug 13, 2019)

It's not so much a matter of whether you harvest or not, it's more an issue of them running out of space. Not giving them more space is an invitation to swarm. Since you started with a swarm odds are it's an older queen and more inclined to swarm than a colony with a new queen. Bees are happiest when they can expand, either in the nest or by swarming increase, honey bound is not a recipe for happy bees.

I would add a super to the nest by Delon's method, putting the new super either under the bottom box, or by putting it between the 2 boxes. Between the 2 boxes would be most effective imo, and would allow you to come back and make a split giving you yet another colony. Should work fine in your warm climate. If they have already made occupied queen cells then you should go ahead and do an immediate split, giving each half an additional box, probably best to put the new box underneath at this point.

Or you could just let them swarm.


----------



## HawkI (Mar 11, 2018)

Thanks, I have done some quick research on swarming and it seems like a good option to just let them swarm. So long as the existing hives can continue to be then I’m happy.

I am not too fussed if half of the bees move off to a more suitable location. My primary objective was to give the bees a suitable place to stay and the idea of my hives now splitting and creating other new hives sounds great. I already have 4 hives in my yard so not too keen to expand the number of hives. I think 4 hives in the garden of a 1 acre property is just fine.


----------

