permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

Beekeeping with the Warré hive -- Home
http://warre.biobees.com/
warre.gif (47893 bytes)
Home
http://warre.biobees.com/index.html
Links
http://warre.biobees.com/links.htm
Contact
http://warre.biobees.com/contact.htm
Warré plans
http://warre.biobees.com/plans.htm
Warré methods
http://warre.biobees.com/methods.htm
Warré modifications
http://warre.biobees.com/modifications.htm
Warré precursors
http://warre.biobees.com/precursors.htm

Groups / Fora
Yahoo e-group
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/warrebeekeeping
Biobees.com forum
http://www.biobees.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=12

Abbé Warré's book
Beekeeping for All:
1. Printed edition
http://warre.biobees.com/bfa.htm
2. free e-book (PDF)
        Warré Beekeeping
http://www.users.callnetuk.com/~heaf/beekeeping_for_all.pdf

These pages are dedicated to beekeeping using the hive developed by Abbé 
Émile Warré (1867-1951) and any of its modifications. Responding to the 
obvious decline in beekeeping in France since his youth, Warré 
experimented with some 350 hives of various designs with the aim of 
producing a hive that was simple, economical, bee-friendly and assured a 
surplus for the beekeeper. The result was his People's Hive (Ruche 
Populaire) whose construction and operation he described in his book 
Beekeeping For All (L' Apiculture Pour Tous, 12th edition)1.
http://warre.biobees.com/bfa.htm
Warré's hive comprises tiers of identical boxes fitted with top-bars, 
but no frames. Its essential design and usage features can be summarised 
as follows:

    * hive-body box internal dimensions 300 x 300 x 210 mm, with 
projecting handles,
    * eight 36mm centred 24mm wide top-bars resting in rebates in each 
box (NO FRAMES),
    * wax starter strips under each top bar (NO FOUNDATION),
    * flat floor, notched with a 120mm wide entrance, alighting board,
    * coarse weave cloth covering the top-bars of the top box,
    * 100 mm high 'quilt' boxed with wood and filled with straw, 
sawdust, wood shavings etc., retained with a cloth,
    * gabled roof containing a ventilated 'loft' and separated from the 
quilt by a mouse-proof board,
    * the bees build natural comb in the first (top) box and extend 
downwards into further boxes,
    * new boxes are added at the bottom,
    * one or more boxes of honey are harvested from the top after the 
main flow,
    * the bees winter on two boxes of comb containing a minimum of 12 
kg stores (France),
    * honey is harvested by draining, or by centrifuging combs in baskets,
    * at the spring visit, the hive is expanded by one or more boxes, 
containing with starter strips or comb.

A very important feature of Warré's method is that the hive is opened in 
the strict sense only once a year, namely at harvest. In spring the 
addition of boxes underneath does not necessitate a hive opening in the 
sense that the heat is let out. The importance of the retention of nest 
scent and heat (Nestduftwärmebindung) for bee health and productivity 
was discussed by Johann Thür in his book Beekeeping: natural, simple and 
successful (1946) which also discusses Abbé Christ's (1739-1813) hive 
that is almost identical in concept to Warré's.
http://www.users.callnetuk.com/~heaf/beekeeping_for_all.pdf/thur.pdf

No frames

Even in early editions of Beekeeping For All, Warré advised against 
using frames as shown in the 5th edition:

    'Nowadays, I recommend without hesitation the People's Hive with 
fixed combs, even for very large enterprises. [...] However, out of 
respect for the freedom of my readers, I will describe the People's Hive 
in its three forms: fixed comb, ordinary frames, open frames with closed 
ends.'2

This web site is premised on the 12th edition of Beekeeping For All 
which describes the top-bar version of his hive only. But, for the sake 
of completeness, we provide a translation of the pages of the 5th 
edition describing the two versions of his hive with frames, the latter 
having no bottom-bars.3  On a separate page devoted to frames, we list 
Warré's objections to them and compare his frame dimensions with those 
of two Warré hives currently used with frames.
http://warre.biobees.com/frames.htm

Present day beekeeping with the Warré hive

The geographical focus of Warré beekeeping is France and the hive was 
also initially used in Belgium and Switzerland. The first in use in 
Germany and Russia were populated in 2006. An experiment was started 
with six modified Warré hives in Wales, UK, in 2007.
http://http//www.dheaf.plus.com/warrebeekeeping/warre_experiment_heaf.htm
In 2008, beekeepers in Canada, USA (including Alaska) and Spain made 
Warré hives in readiness for spring 2008. By late 2009, Warré beekeepers 
were also known in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Croatia, Estonia, Italy, 
Japan, Latvia, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Sweden 
and Uruguay. English, French and German sites and fora of Warré 
beekeepers and hive manufacturers can be reached via the 'Links' page.
http://warre.biobees.com/links.htm

An English language e-group for Warré beekeeping can be joined via 
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/warrebeekeeping or by sending an email 
to warrebeekeeping-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk

There is Warré beekeeping thread in the forum at Top Bar Beekeeping with 
the Barefoot Beekeeper (www.biobees.com/forum/).

Plans for constructing an authentic Warré hive.
http://warre.biobees.com/plans.htm

Complete newcomer to beekeeping?

Please read our page of advice for complete beginners.
http://warre.biobees.com/beginner.htm

Variants of the Warré hive

In France the Warré hive is variously referred to as Ruche Populaire, 
Ruch Warré, Ruche Écologique, Ruche Climatstable and Ruche Française. 
Many modifications have been introduced, some of which depart in varying 
degrees from Warré's intentions of simplicity, economy and 
bee-friendliness. However, some of the modifications may eventually 
prove to be necessary, for instance in climates other than that of 
France, or in areas where legislation requires combs to be easily 
movable. We therefore offer descriptions of these variants in separate 
pages accessible via the links below:

Roger Delon's Stable-Climate Hive (Ruche Climatstable)
http://warre.biobees.com/delon.htm
Jean-Marie Frèrès' & Jean Claude Guillaume's Ecological Hive (Ruche 
Écologique)
http://warre.biobees.com/guillaume.htm
David Heaf's modified Warré Hive Roof
http://warre.biobees.com/heaf.htm
The double Warré hive system of Jean-François Dardenne
http://warre.biobees.com/dardenne.htm
Warré hive accessories by Marc Gatineau
http://warre.biobees.com/gatineau.htm
David Croteau's hive base with sump and entrances in each box
http://warre.biobees.com/croteau.htm
Gilles Denis' half-frame (porte-rayon) and a discussion of frames versus 
top-bars
http://warre.biobees.com/denis.htm
Historical precursors of the Warré hive based on a similar or identical 
concept
http://warre.biobees.com/precursors.htm

Left: 'Exploded' view of a Warré hive. The top-bar cloth here is 
coarsely woven hessian.
exploded_labelled.jpg (89375 bytes)
http://warre.biobees.com/exploded_labelled.jpg
Right: Marc Gatineau's transparent Warré hive on its third box. From 
http://www.apiculturegatineau.fr
http://www.apiculturegatineau.fr/
gatineau.jpg (85959 bytes)

Notes

1) Beekeeping For All by Abbé Émile Warré is translated into English 
from the 12th edition of L' Apiculture Pour Tous which is dated 1948. 
For details of this book and e-book click here.
http://warre.biobees.com/bfa.htm
The 5th edition (see note 2 below) is dated March 1923 and was published 
when Warré was curé of Martainneville in the Somme, France. The 12th 
edition was published after he had moved to Saint-Symphorien on the 
outskirts of Tours, France. We await information on the publication date 
of the first edition of the book.
Original French of 12th edition of L' Apiculture Pour Tous:
1. transcribed as a PDF: http://www.apiculture-warre.fr/
http://www.apiculture-warre.fr/
2. as JPEG files of scans of each page: 
http://ruche.populaire.free.fr/apiculture_pour_tous_12eme_edition/
http://ruche.populaire.free.fr/apiculture_pour_tous_12eme_edition/
2) Translated from page 46 of  L' Apiculture Pour Tous - Manuel-Guide 
Des Fixistes Et Des Mobilistes (Beekeeping For All - A manual for fixed 
comb and mobile frame beekeepers) by Abbé Warré, Bureau du 'Travail au 
Grand Air', 17 Rue Littré, 17 Tours, France, 5th edition, 1923.
http://ruche.populaire.free.fr/apiculture_pour_tous_5eme_edition/
Download PDF of scan/OCR of 5th edition in French.
http://warre.biobees.com/warre_5th_edition.pdf


3) English translation of pages 60-71 of L' Apiculture Pour Tous - 
Manuel-Guide Des Fixistes Et Des Mobilistes (Beekeeping For All - A 
manual for fixed comb and mobile frame beekeepers) by Abbé Warré, Bureau 
du 'Travail au Grand Air', 17 Rue Littré, 17 Tours, France, 5th edition, 
1923. Download PDF.
http://warre.biobees.com/warre_5ed_60-71.pdf

These Warré pages are authored by David Heaf who is based in North 
Wales, UK. We thank Phil Chandler for offering space for these pages on 
his site biobees.com. Copy-editing by Cleartext.

Beekeeping with the Warré hive -- Home
http://warre.biobees.com/