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Post by canadamike on Jan 17, 2009 20:49:53 GMT -5
The ''movability'' of the Warré hive is its main quality, apparently. I will have some next spring, should it all go well. In Europe, there are many single individuals having up to 5-600 without staff. My friend knows of one guy with no staff and 1,000 behives. I suspect his sex life must be dreadful though  They are light, easier to transport and you can add/substract units easily, they stack 4 to 5 high usually, they are smaller than the Dadant or whatever the North American english name for them, hence easier to manipulate for women or older folks, or mini people like my neighbor. ( I hope he does not read this ) They also are designed to maximise internal temperature and reproduce the number of ( combs?) that wild bees will buid in nature, 8. |
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Post by cff on Jan 17, 2009 20:55:22 GMT -5
Johno"
It is a very interesting way to keep bees but top bar hives do have some draw backs - especially when it comes to Nuc sales but each to his own.
Woodchuck"
I understand the state law perfectly - this is the reason why I'm not a licence's beekeeper - A bee inspector on my property would be trespassing on privately owned and posted property and if he set fire to anything quickly subject to having his azz kicked.
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Post by grungy on Jan 17, 2009 21:06:57 GMT -5
cff, could you please elaborate on the draw backs, please?
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Post by cff on Jan 17, 2009 21:25:08 GMT -5
Three somewhat major drawbacks right off the top of my head are ............
1. Honey has to be taken with the crush and strain method = bees rebuilding comb aren't as productive as bees who simply refill the regular man made frames that are un-capped with a hot electric knife and extracted with the centrifugal force of a commercial honey extractor.
2. Natural wax comb will sometimes sag or break due to the weight of the honey and hot summer weather.
3. Most people looking to buy bees aren't looking for natural comb top bar hives.
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Post by woodchuck on Jan 17, 2009 22:17:58 GMT -5
Three somewhat major drawbacks right off the top of my head are ............ 1. Honey has to be taken with the crush and strain method = bees rebuilding comb aren't as productive as bees who simply refill the regular man made frames that are un-capped with a hot electric knife and extracted with the centrifugal force of a commercial honey extractor. 2. Natural wax comb will sometimes sag or break due to the weight of the honey and hot summer weather. 3. Most people looking to buy bees aren't looking for natural comb top bar hives. I agree. The disadvantages far outweigh any advantages. IMHO, of course! <Woodchuck> |
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Post by grungy on Jan 17, 2009 23:00:01 GMT -5
cff-
"1. Honey has to be taken with the crush and strain method = bees rebuilding comb aren't as productive as bees who simply refill the regular man made frames that are un-capped with a hot electric knife and extracted with the centrifugal force of a commercial honey extractor. "
Assuming a small operation - 1 or 2 hives, is there a way that honey can be extracted with comb intact without out a centrifuge. Ie. can one decap both sides of the come and allow gravity to drain out the combs?
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Post by canadamike on Jan 17, 2009 23:39:32 GMT -5
that's how my buddy does it , he has 8 hives and no machine, and he gets 100-125 pounds of honey from the small hives, even if they rebuild everything.
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Post by cff on Jan 17, 2009 23:46:47 GMT -5
Possible = yes - practical = not really. Extractors made for the hobbyist are fairly reasonable - sometime you can find them used (ebay) at pretty decent prices cff- "1. Honey has to be taken with the crush and strain method = bees rebuilding comb aren't as productive as bees who simply refill the regular man made frames that are un-capped with a hot electric knife and extracted with the centrifugal force of a commercial honey extractor. " Assuming a small operation - 1 or 2 hives, is there a way that honey can be extracted with comb intact without out a centrifuge. Ie. can one decap both sides of the come and allow gravity to drain out the combs? |
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Post by cff on Jan 18, 2009 0:01:18 GMT -5
Mike Its not wrong to do crush and strain (each to his own way) but it is much more efficient to reuse draw comb. You buddy could produce a considerable amount more honey if all the bees energy was put into collecting nectar instead of rebuilding lost comb. I have several friends that have top-bar hives, its a very inexpensive method of beekeeping. You don't buy frames - assemble frames and buy wax foundation. You will on occasion have a comb to collapse during summer heat in the south - it's difficult to sale Nucs (starter hives) to people who have grown use to the Langstroth Bee Hive with removeable frames. Sometimes the bees will glue everything together a little too good and you'll end up making a mess trying to get a top bar frame out of the box. But I always tell people you should have bees the same way you have dinner - the way you like it best  that's how my buddy does it , he has 8 hives and no machine, and he gets 100-125 pounds of honey from the small hives, even if they rebuild everything. |
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Post by cff on Jan 18, 2009 0:10:52 GMT -5
I think the biggest lure to the Warré hives is the smaller size, but there is nothing that says you have to keep bees in a deep 10 frame hive. A lot of beekeeper's are working with 8 frame hives or thier keeping bees in several supers mediums or sometimes shallow supers stacked up to form a hive to avert the issues of weight.
A 10 frame Langstroth hive can weigh upwards of 95 lbs fairly easy but there are a lot of ways to scale down the size and still have the convenience of removable frames.
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Post by woodchuck on Jan 18, 2009 1:31:21 GMT -5
I think the biggest lure to the Warré hives is the smaller size, but there is nothing that says you have to keep bees in a deep 10 frame hive. A lot of beekeeper's are working with 8 frame hives or thier keeping bees in several supers mediums or sometimes shallow supers stacked up to form a hive to avert the issues of weight. A 10 frame Langstroth hive can weigh upwards of 95 lbs fairly easy but there are a lot of ways to scale down the size and still have the convenience of removable frames. IMHO, It's important to have everything interchangeable. I used to have all deep hive bodies and supers. In the past few years I've been fazing the 'deeps' out and moving to all medium depth hive bodies and supers...as I get older..it will make things easier. With hive bodies and supers of the same size... I can move frames anywhere I want...I have much better control over the colony and no inconvenience associated with several different sized supers. Standard Langstroth hives are easily made movable by the use of migratory tops and bottoms, which is all I've ever used (seriously) in all my years of beekeeping (since the early 80's) YMMV <Woodchuck> |
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Post by canadamike on Jan 18, 2009 1:43:20 GMT -5
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noir
gopher
Posts: 9
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Post by noir on Jan 18, 2009 4:23:25 GMT -5
Hi, you're right Johno, the translated is mesh..i forget it  For the wood, i used hot lin oil and an other organic lazure. (with oil, and agrumes extracts) Don't forget Varroa. The way you use a warré can seriously fight varroa (and others ) without those bad chemical products. i grow organic so i keep bees in an organic way too. In warré every two years, wax is renew. that's not the case in others hives. it's for me the best method to maintain a good sanitary state, even if i harvest only a bit less. True, but you can use, frames as well in Warré.(or armed barettes, with metal wire, bees will construct on that structure) how that can be an argument against Warré Hive? i don't understand it. You mean on a commercial way to develop Warré hives?... advantages: 1 - sanitary 2- more "natural"..respect and no pesticides etc.. 2-size (easy to move from a place to an other) 3- you don't need extractors etc... 4- from three elements you can quickly create two or three hives. (You take one element and put it on a floor..quite simple) 5-seems to start faster in our country. you can drive your hive as you want, but when you saw diseases and bees problems, we had to keep an eye on the respectfull way. |
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Post by grungy on Jan 18, 2009 6:33:25 GMT -5
Noir,
Could you post a pictures of frames as well in Warré.(or armed barettes, with metal wire as I am having a bit of a problem picturing this in my mind. I can remember the old large standard bee hives that were around in the 50's and 60's but it's been a long time.
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Post by grungy on Jan 18, 2009 6:36:48 GMT -5
Hayne would you have some pictures of the smaller versions of hives? And where would one obtain the frames and buy wax foundation that would fit the smaller size?
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