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Abbé Warré's book
The Ecological Hive (La Ruche Écologique) of J-M Frèrès and J-C Guillaume
Possibly the most popular variant of the Warré hive is that developed by Jean-Marie Frèrès and Jean-Claude Guillaume as presented in their 430-page manual L' apiculture écologique de A à Z (Villelongue-Dels-Monts, 1997) which is promoted at the Ruche Écologique website. This book has so far been available as a bound printout from a computer, but it is understood that Jean-Claude Guillaume has now found a publisher who intends to bring out French, English and Spanish editions.
It is a book for beginners containing dozens of meticulously drawn diagrams which detail, step by step, various beekeeping operations. The approach is informed by many ecological or organic principles. The most important modification to Warré's original design is the introduction of shuttered windows in each hive-body box. The other two notable modifications are the insulated, ventilated roof with an integral quilt, and the use of mosquito net instead of coarse cloth under the quilt, i.e. resting on the top-bars.
Roof
As the roof is possibly of particular interest for dealing with condensation in cold climates we describe it here in some detail. Its main body is the same outside size as a hive-body box. To create a weather-proof seal with the box on which it rests, 50 mm wide battens are nailed round the lower rim on a 5 mm thick spacer so as to project over the hive body box below and yet give clearance to aid removal. A weather-tight seal is made with silicone along the top rim of the batten. The body of the roof box slopes from 180 mm to 150 mm forming a single-pitch roof and a large cavity big enough to fit a feeder. The roof box is closed at the top with a sheet of thin plywood. On top of that is fixed a 30 mm thick sheet of polystyrene/styrofoam insulation (protection from solar radiation). On top of that is the sloping roof board of plywood of an adequate thickness covered with roofing felt. A 60 mm diameter ventilation hole is bored in each side of the box and covered on the inside with insect/mouse-proof mesh.
A significant further innovation with the roof is that a piece of cloth (wool) is pinned to the inside of the roof near its base to form a seal all round. This cloth normally rests on the mosquito net. On top of the cloth is glued a sheet of 50 mm polystyrene/styrofoam. This assembly is the quilt. There is sufficient slack in the perimeter of the cloth that when a feeder is placed on the top-bars and the roof replaced, the cloth, with the sheet of polystyrene glued to it, is automatically pushed up to accommodate the feeder.
The roof differs from
Warré's in a number of significant ways:
- it is almost flat, not gabled,
- it is not used with a quilt,
- vapour entering the roof space can vent to the outside,
- it can contain a feeder,
- it achieves its solar insulation primarily with polystyrene instead of an open 'loft'.
Window
A window of 4 mm glass is fitted to each box on one of the sides not having a handle. Its aperture is 100 x 300 mm and it is set in 7 mm x 4 mm rebates above and below. It is closed on the outside by means of a shutter insulated with polystyrene/styrofoam. A detail of the window construction is shown below.
Having windows in a Warré hive is likely to appeal especially to the beginner. You can see to a certain extent what is going on inside, especially how far the comb has developed downwards. However, it is surprising how little of the life inside the hive is visible compared with removing and examining frames. Experienced beekeepers therefore may prefer to rely on information obtained from observing the hive entrance or, if necessary, by tilting one or more hive boxes to look underneath. It is doubtful if the windows justify the extra complexity and cost of construction involved. Furthermore, the use of polystyrene and glass increases the embodied energy and use of petrochemicals, both of which detract a little from the sustainability of this variant. Warré managed without windows and so do a number of contemporary Warré beekeepers.
Above: Views through a window before and after populating a hive
The information on this page was obtained from L' apiculture écologique de A à Z, by Jean-Marie Frèrès and Jean-Claude Guillaume (Villelongue-Dels-Monts, 1997) and the lower three images from David Heaf's page at http://www.mygarden.me.uk/ModifiedAbbeWarreHive.htm