Warré plans
Warré methods
Warré modifications
Warré precursors
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Beekeeping for All:
Modifications of the Warré hive and accessories
It may help to bear in mind that Warré developed his hive in northern France, initially in the Somme and latterly at Tours, and therefore the climate for which he designed it may differ greatly from that of the locality of a beekeeper wishing to try the hive in another part of the world. It is recommended therefore that those new to the hive consider the climate difference and draw on experience from beekeepers in their climatic zone, which may mean from frame hive beekeepers if no Warré beekeepers are available. Advice about coping with temperature extremes well beyond those that prevail in northern France might also be found in the Warré e-group linked from the left of this page.
Climate data for Tours, where Warré developed his beekeeping business: click here.
The following table lists the most significant modifications of Warré hives. A separate page is devoted to round and polygonal (> 4 sides): click here.
| Originator (in historical order) | Principal modifications |
| Roger Delon | Floor, crown board and insulation, roof, wood/wire frame |
| Jean-Marie Frèrès & Jean-Claude Guillaume | Window in each box, mosquito net instead of top-bar cloth, ventilated roof with bee-tight quilt that lifts inside roof to accommodate a feeder |
| Marc Gatineau | Frames, closable entrance in each box, lift. For a selection of Gatineau-type lifts, see also lift.htm . |
| Gilles Denis | Half-frame, conventional roof and crown board |
| Jean-François Dardenne | Two-queen system in double Warré |
| David Heaf | National hive roof design resized to fit a Warré |
| David Croteau | 'Sump' on concrete slab instead of Warré floor, closable and ventilateable entrance in each box |
| John Moerschbacher | 'Sump' on ground with mesh, experiment on octagonal box shape in 2009 |
| Reviewed by Jean-François Dardenne | Round and polygonal Warré-type (nadired) hives where the number of sides of the polygon is greater than four. |
| Floors, sumps and stands | Mesh floors, floors for feeders and observation, sumps, individual stands, shared stands |
| John Haverson | Top-bar comb inspection frame |
| Bill Wood | Comb knife for removing top-bar combs from a populated Warré hive |