In this section of the Warre Hive Construction Guide we will build the floor. The floor acts as a foundation for the Warre Hive; it supports the hive boxes, quilt and roof. The Warre Hive Floor is fairly easy to build with common woodworking tools. Let’s begin!
Step 1: Prepare the Parts
To build the Warre Hive Floor, we will need to cut the following wood pieces:
- 2 floor halves measuring 33.5cm long by 16.75cm wide (13 3/16″ long by 6 5/8″ wide)
- 2 short pieces of wood measuring 21cm long by 3cm wide (8 1/4″ long by 1 3/16″ wide)
- 1 landing board measuring 41cm long by 16cm wide (16 1/8″ long by 6 5/16″ wide)
You will also need:
- Nails or screws
First we need to outline where our hive entrance will be. Take one of the floor halves measuring 33.5cm by 16.75cm (13 3/16″ by 6 5/8″) pieces and grab a ruler. Measuring from one edge of the board, mark the following points on the long side of the board:
- 10.75cm (4 1/4″)
- 22.75cm (8 15/16″)
These are the edge points of our hive entrance. At each of these points, use a square to draw straight lines 5cm (1 15/16″) long at right angles to the edge of the board. Using a straight edge, draw a line connecting the two edge lines to form a rectangle. When finished, your board should look similar to the one below.
Now cut along the two 5cm (1 15/16″) lines with a handsaw or table saw. Stop each cut at the end of the line. See the picture for details.
Take a chisel and remove the extra wood between the two cuts. When finished, you may want to use some sandpaper to smooth out the chiseled area.
Congratulations on preparing all the floor parts! Go on to the next page where we will build the main floor assembly.
9 responses so far ↓
john // February 18, 2009 at 9:53 am |
What is the angle of the hive entrance?
Nick // February 18, 2009 at 2:58 pm |
john – Good question! I don’t cut my hive entrances to an exact angle, but my average is about 45 degrees.
Bees can crawl up a 90 degree angle, so you can do away with the chiseling altogether if you want.
john // February 20, 2009 at 1:25 pm |
thanks for the answer nick i can work
abit of a slope in now, another question is , can you or would it be adviseable to make the landing board a little bit wider for the bees to land on? saving afew misses.
Nick // February 24, 2009 at 6:07 pm |
john – You can add another inch or two if you want to. I don’t usually make any changes to the landing board. Just more adds more work.
Logan MacGregor // May 11, 2009 at 5:53 pm |
The legs are sure fancy, but I just use concrete blocks for my hives. This means no wood-t0-ground contact so I don’t have to deal with rot. Also, my hives get closer to the ground. According to Warre himself (and I have witnessed this myself), bees laden with pollen or honey may land on the ground and need to get back up because the weight of their load. The taller the floor from the ground, the harder this is for the bees. Besides, you can usually find some concrete blocks or bricks laying around somewhere and they are easy to level — just dig the dirt around the bricks until you get it the way you want. Put the floor (sans feet) on the bricks or blocks and you are good to go.
Nick // May 28, 2009 at 9:10 pm |
Logan – Actually, the legs on the beehive are not that tall…in fact they are the exact height Emile Warre recommends on page 46 of “Beekeeping for All” Concrete blocks can transfer moisture to your beehive, so I don’t like to use them that much. They do provide a very solid base though.
Logan MacGregor // July 25, 2009 at 6:39 pm |
It doesn’t matter. I built two Warre’s like you mentioned, and both refused to build down when I added a new box underneath according to the Warre method. I even baited one by bringing a comb down and they still wouldn’t go. My Kenyan Top Bar Hive is performing beautifully, so I’m sticking with Langstroths and horizontal top bar hives. Sorry, but in my experience Warre isn’t worth the effort. I’ll be giving away my Warre boxes with the observation windows. Nice site, I hope others have better luck but I don’t want to do Warre boxes any more.
chris // September 13, 2009 at 12:30 pm |
so will the bees build their comb down on to the bottom board?
Denise Chevalier // January 19, 2010 at 9:03 am |
A small group of us are building 4 hives and it’s going very well, thanks for the plans. About the entrance — the chisel cut is 90 degrees on our floors, how did you get the angle at 45 degrees? It’s a nice detail. Did you rasp it away to 45 after the initial wood removal? Exact description would be appreciated! (Even though it doesn’t matter to the bees…)
Also, do we need a queen excluder? And are there construction plans for the bee feeder? thanks!