Warre Bees

So in 2009 I combined my holistic way of looking at the world with a Langstroth beehive design and guess what I got? Dead bees. I got the whole rig including a nuc of bees from a local guy who is 110 years old and has been beeing for a long time. Even written a book. He recommends all the "normal" stuff including lots of drugs and sugar for the bees. I ignored the drugs and sugar, and my bees starved to death by October. It was a bad year for nectar but still...

So last winter I did some more research and came upon the Warre system. The hive boxes and smaller and I decided to try again using top bars with frames in the top box, and top bars only in the second and third boxes. No foundation whatsoever. It makes sense to let the bees decide exactly how big to make their comb. I have resigned myself to destroying comb to get the honey, and harvesting the wax as well.

I received the bees in early April, installed them in the two hives four feet apart, two feet off the ground. Everything is made of cedar. The bottom of the boxes is a screen, open to the ground and to airflow, and it allows for the junk to fall out instead of collecting there. I can also look up in the hive to see the activity.

Activity was brisk all summer. I did feed them sugar in the Spring to ease their transition and help them to build some comb, and I fed them again in the early Fall when the nectar was running dry. Activity fell off and as far as I can tell, they are still alive in there now in January. I provided no insulation and remember the bottom is open except for a screen.

I will let you know how it turns out.