Category Archives: Warre Hives

When to reduce hive size

Posted on August 23, 2013 by benhornby

Hi, My question is when should I reduce the size of a warré hive for winter? This my first year with bees and I have two warré hives both of which were populated with swarms in June. The hives were … Continue reading →

Posted in Warre Hives | 3 Comments

Busy, robbing or getting ready to swarm?

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Just a geek with a running habit

As I come to the end of my first month of beekeeping, with a prime swarm in a Warré, things have changed in the last week; something that gets the natural beekeeper flapping a bit. Well this one at least, … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Beekeeping, Warre Hives | 1 Comment

Bee deaths and preloved comb

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Gareth John

All the bees in our Warre have sadly died. The warre had an established colony – this year would have been its third full year. There is no sign of disease, and there is honey left inside, in the top … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Beekeeping, Warre Hives | 9 Comments

Stability of Warres in winds

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Paul

I recently saw some occupied Warre hives for the first time and had an opportunity to study them up close. One thing puzzled me – why did the boxes not lock together, perhaps with simple overlapping bits of wood? There … Continue reading →

Posted in Warre Hives | 4 Comments

My First Swarm

Posted on July 24, 2012 by enhancingthefuture

was just sitting in the garden taking advantage of this beautiful weather and eating my lunch when the buzzing noise from around my hive increased exponentially.  Suddenly there were thousands of bees taking to the air and streaming across my … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Beekeeping, Swarms, Warre Hives | 3 Comments

Hive observation

Posted on July 18, 2012 by jonbinspired

I thought some might find the following hive story interesting. This is about a 3 year old hive (no treatment) which suffered terrible varroasis last year, deformed wing virus (sick bees all over the ground), nosema at the start of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Hive Floors, Natural Beekeeping, Queens, Swarms, Warre Hives | 2 Comments

Mouse Guard

Posted on July 6, 2012 by woodturner101

I would be interested to know what type of mouseguard folks use on a Warre hive. I have wooden guards which cover the whole entrance with a very small gap in the bottom but I’m always worried that mice would … Continue reading →

Posted in Mouse Guards, Natural Beekeeping, Warre Hives | 1 Comment

Stuck Warre

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Gareth John

My Warre colony won’t move down into the second box and are completely jammed up in the top one.  I remember reading that in fact it was better to align the bars narrow side vertical, but that was after I … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Beekeeping, Warre Hives | 15 Comments

Kamikaze bees – why does the swarm commit suicide?

Posted on June 29, 2012 by FollowMeChaps

I today witnessed the most bizarre sight of a swarm apparently committing suicide which I have neither witnessed before or heard of – does anyone know what was going on? See this video & full story below: I collected a … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Beekeeping, Swarms, Warre Hives | 2 Comments

Brixton Warre colony

Posted on June 20, 2012 by maryw7

I have enjoyed reading all your blogs over the last few weeks, and would like to report from my central London apiary. I collected a nuc from near Ipswich on Sunday and put it in my tiny garden, unbeknown to … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Beekeeping, Nucs, Warre Hives | 1 Comment