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Step 3: Attach the Legs
To add some legs to our Warre Hive Floor, we will need to cut the following wood pieces:
- 4 legs measuring 10cm tall by at least 4cm wide (3 15/16″ tall by at least 1 9/16″ wide) 2×4′s cut to 3 15/16″ tall make good legs.
- 4 feet measuring 10cm by 10cm square by at maximum 2cm thick (3 15/16″ by 3 15/16″ square by at maximum 13/16″ thick)
Take one of the legs and lay one of the feet on it. Center the foot over the post and fasten it in place.
Finish the other three legs in the same manner, attaching the feet of the legs to the posts.
Now we can take our four legs and arrange them under the floor. Once you have aligned them to your liking, fasten them in place from the top, fastening through the floor into the legs .
Here is a view of the underside so you can see how I aligned the feet on my floor.
Congratulations! You have completed the Warre Hive Floor. In the next section, we will build the Warre Hive Box.
Go on to the Warre Hive Box →
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What is the angle of the hive entrance?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
so will the bees build their comb down on to the bottom board?
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!
dont forget the landing lights? sorry Have been watching the bee movie too much
Hey Nick,
Great site, I am in the midst of building my first Warre hive! Question regarding the landing board. Why does it need to be a long as it is and extend all the way underneath and flush with the back edge of the floor? Seems like it could easily be have that length. Great site, answered a lot of questions for an inexperienced woodworker like me. Thanks for the effort!
Hi John thanks for the compliments. I build the floor as per the plans by Émile Warré. The landing board is also used as support for holding the 2 floor pieces together. Here’s some food for thought – in the original plans, in beekeeping for all (page 44), the floor consists of 3 boards so the landing board went all the way to the back helping hold all 3 pieces together. The way I build them I have 2 pieces. Could the landing board be shorter because of this? Absolutely…
could you show how to build a screened bottom board for a warre hive
Hi Ellis. I have a plan in the works, I just haven’t had a chance to finish it yet. I hope to have it done in the next month so keep checking back.