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
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:
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.