The bee keeper diaries

[Iowanian]

Originally Posted by Groves

We found one of our hives getting robbed on one of those sunny winter days. We brought it inside after dark to salvage the (considerable) remaining honey.

Here’s what the inside of a hive looks like. This box is upside down.


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Interesting. Is this part of a top bar or just an 8 frame? Doesn't look like the comb is drawn on frames from here? I think I'd like. To build a top bar to try that, to sell comb honey.

[Groves]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

Interesting. Is this part of a top bar or just an 8 frame? Doesn't look like the comb is drawn on frames from here? I think I'd like. To build a top bar to try that, to sell comb honey.

This is a Warré hive. We run 8 or 9 topbars. This box is flipped over so you’re seeing the bottom.

It’s harvested a box at a time. I’m largely a non-interventionist. Add an empty box to the bottom in the spring. Take a full box of honey off the top in the fall. Rinse. Repeat.


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[Iowanian]

Originally Posted by Groves

This is a Warré hive. We run 8 or 9 topbars. This box is flipped over so you’re seeing the bottom.

It’s harvested a box at a time. I’m largely a non-interventionist. Add an empty box to the bottom in the spring. Take a full box of honey off the top in the fall. Rinse. Repeat.


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If you have time, I'm really interested to see/learn more about the top bar hives you're running. Do you do those due to cost, preference, or for comb honey? I've been considering building one so I'd have some comb to sell, but don't know anyone local that is doing them.

I don't know how widespread it is, but there is an explosion of new beeks in our area. I heard the beginner class has over 70 attendees this year. The bad news is, that's more people competing for swarms and selling honey which will flood the local market...the Good news is, I'd guess there will be a lot of used equipment for sale in a year or so when they realize they don't like getting stung or their bees die and the new wears off.

[Groves]

Originally Posted by Iowanian

If you have time, I'm really interested to see/learn more about the top bar hives you're running. Do you do those due to cost, preference, or for comb honey? I've been considering building one so I'd have some comb to sell, but don't know anyone local that is doing them.

I don't know how widespread it is, but there is an explosion of new beeks in our area. I heard the beginner class has over 70 attendees this year. The bad news is, that's more people competing for swarms and selling honey which will flood the local market...the Good news is, I'd guess there will be a lot of used equipment for sale in a year or so when they realize they don't like getting stung or their bees die and the new wears off.

I love the Warré hives. They fit my management style and my life preferences.

It would be classified as a vertical top-bar hive. Quite different from the horizontal top-bar hives.

It's a french design from the 30s. It's purpose was to be simple to build and simple to manage. They're much smaller than a Langstroth, which has it's advantages in saving one's back, but also advantages to the colony.

It's not at all ideal for producing comb honey.

Hives are just tools, so you can run your hives any way you want. Most guys who run warré hives are following the principles set out by Émile Warré, who wrote Beekeeping for All. click on the link for a free pdf of it. His goal was for everyone to have a hive in their yard. I have helped people get started easily.

Running Warré hives in the Warré method means that you expand your hive space, not by supering (placing empty boxes on top), but by nadiriing (placing
empty boxes on bottom). The Warré method is like a never ending tree trunk cavity, so as the bees keep building downward (the way they do in nature) the boxes are gradually filled, used for brood, then used for honey once they make it towards the top of the stack.

Honey stored in comb that was once brood comb will not be the pearly white comb that customers want, AND it will have papery husks left over from the brood. Not a good mouth-feel.

Langstroth folks often put a queen excluder below their honey supers to prevent the queen from ever laying up there. This preserves the virgin honeycomb.

You CAN get some comb honey from the edges of a warré, but it's unreliable.

For the most part, we crush & strain to harvest our honey, the bees feed off the slum-gum and we process the leftover wax into bricks.

For me and my style:
• I want my bees to make their own comb. Yes it takes more energy that could have gone into honey production, but it prevents the chemical buildup in the wax, allows them to build whatever cell size they want, and keeps me supplied in wax.

• I like the smaller (12in x 12in interior) boxes, they are less heavy, but more importantly they fit the winter cluster better and prevents bees from starving with honey right next to them.

• I believe swarming to be a sign of a healthy hive. I don't go out of my way to force it (by restricting their hive size, for instance), but I certainly don't try to prevent it (rooting around for queen cells, keeping the hive weak, etc). I do capture my swarms when possible and they're far better off as colonizers than a random 3lb box of bees blown out of another hive.

• The boxes are super easy to build. Simple butt joints and rabbets. The top-bars are just a guide and of course the bees build how they want. I do put windows in mine, cause it's so fun to look in.

• I'm just a guy who likes honey. I'm not a sideliner. I'm barely a hobbyist. I seem to stick to 2-6 hives, and I never have trouble selling any extra hives or honey that I have...at prices that I certainly could not afford.

• I did buy my first hive already in a langstroth, but we put a bottom board under it that had a warré sized hole in it with a Warré box underneath. They grew down the next season and the langstroth box came off for good.

• The clubs all recommend langstroth hives of course, but in my opinion, starting with a bunch of langstroth equipment really keeps them chained to that hive style. You're going to need more and more langstroth boxes of course, and it's hard to start buying/making new boxes when you're already invested so heavily in the langs.



Because of the infighting within beekeeping circles, I want to make clear that I'm not declaring my methods as superior, nor do I look down upon other methods/hives/goals. Enjoy the little rascals.