beginner needs help

[squarepeg]

fascinating.

my first look at a hive like this.

does every comb start on a bar of its own?

looks like it would be very difficult to remove anything from a hive like that.

[Bubbles]

With Warre hives, you harvest the box, not just a comb or two. Unless of course you decided to place frames or half frames without foundations instead of just top bars. I placed 8 topbars on each box but as you can see, the original box only has 7 combs while the super has 5.

Here's a link that shows a beek demonstrating how to inspect his hives. He used half-frames.
http://milkwood.net/2011/05/04/urban...-a-warre-hive/

[KQ6AR]

I think you'll find you're bees draw different size comb for different purposes. The ones in the middle of the brood nest might be 4.9 for worker brood, while the ones on the window are probably larger for honey, & drone brood.

[squarepeg]

i agree with dan. you should have cells of varying sizes mostly depending where they are in the hive.

the reason for my question was because you bought bees that were raised on 4.9 mm cell.

bubbles, if you ever have a chance to measure cells in the core of a broodnest area, it would be interesting to see if they stayed 'regressed' or became 'un-regressed'.

the easiet way is to take a milimeter ruler and measure across 10 cells, and divide by 10.

thanks again for the photos, that is really neat!

[Kristen2678]

I got a package from Wolf Creek this past year. I dumped them out onto foundationless. They drew lots of incomplete comb but what they drew was pretty straight. They packed the brood nest with honey and swarmed (I now know better). The new queen failed to return mated (lots of dragonflies here) so I no longer have their stock - but wish I did! Nice bees. Easy for a beginner to work. I have a partially drawn comb here that I've measured a few rows of. Looks like they naturally drew 5.08 in the middle of the broodnest.

[Bubbles]

To Dan: you are right on bees building different cell sizes depending on what the bees want to put in them.
To Squarepeg: I'll try to remember to measure the cells come Spring.
To Kristen: one old timer beek said she noticed that the cells toward the top of the combs were bigger compared to the ones toward the bottom. Did you notice a similar trend with your bees' combs?

[squarepeg]

interesting stuff, thanks to all for the replies.

[xcugat]

Just out of curiosity as I saw one in this thread--does anyone have a verifiable warre hive that survived 3+ years? (I only know one person I my area and he hasnt had much luck)

[Bubbles]

To xcugat: I sort of asked that question in biobees.com Here's the response.
http://www.biobees.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9973

[xcugat]

Thanks Bubbles I would like to read it but your link goes to the main site--is there another link?

[Bubbles]

Here is a partial copy of the link on the question: Oldest active Warre hives

zaunreiter
Moderator Bee
Joined: 26 Nov 2007
Posts: 1973
Location: Germany, NorthWest
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 7:38 pm
Keeping bees in Warré hives for seven years now. There are some more out there, especially in France, who use the Warré hive for an even longer time.

Bernhard
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trentfysty
Guard Bee
Joined: 17 May 2010
Posts: 64
Location: USA, Colorado, Englewood
Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 3:25 pm

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3 years here!
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If you haven't already done so I would get David Heaf's book about Warre Hive Keeping. He has been doing it for a long time and has been very detailed in his documentation of what has worked and what hasn't. It's a great resource and is a pretty quick read.

Trentfysty

[xcugat]

He says keeping bees in Warre seven years...but is it the same queen/the same swarm of bees or is he replacing them each year?

[Bubbles]

To Mambo king,

You'll have to ask him your question. Go to www.biobees.com/forum and register (it's free). His full name is Bernhard Zaunreiter.

I am guessing, he raises the descendants of the original swarm but may have replaced queens every 2-3 years.