Comments on: Warre Hive Spring and Summer Feeder – How to Feed Your Honeybees Without Freezing Them

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By: Jan

Jan — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 17:04:54 +0000

Any thoughts on swarm prevention/management in a Warre hive. I am an urban beekeeper and this is a ethical concern here. We can’t ignore the possibility of a neighbor having to pay for a cutout in their attic or eaves. It is happening a lot now that urban ag is so popular. I love the concept of less intervention but I can’t answer my Lang friends’ questions about swarming.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:14:22 +0000

Hi Eve, thanks for the share. That was a great video, definitely food for thought. The tray could easily be modified like you mentioned. If you give it a go then send me a picture and I’ll post it. The bees should have some sort of raft, I use small pieces of dowel rod but the pine needles would work great too.

By: Eve Vaterlaus

Eve Vaterlaus — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 19:05:40 +0000

I don’t have a Warre yet, but I would like one.
I am studying the feeding options.
I saw a Slovakian beekeeper putting empty hive boxes above the hive with feeding jars in these videos
http://vimeo.com/user3912355/videos/sort:date
He was not using the quilt at the same time, however, to the best of what I could see.
BUT, based on the plans here, why couldn’t the tray that holds the syrup be an appropriately shaped tupperware box built in? Also, in other feeding systems I have used in other hives, I have floated dry pine needles to make rafts for the bees to stand on to avoid drowning-
does anyone have opinions or thoughts on whether this would work here?
Eve

By: Katherine White

Katherine White — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:18:31 +0000

Hi, JT,

You can download a copy of Warre’s “Beekeeping for All” at warre.biobees.com

Enjoy!

Katherine

By: JT

JT — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:43:50 +0000

I was trying to find the down loadable version of
“Beekeeping for All”, I assume it was at http://www.warrebeehive.com, but that site is down….

anyone got a copy of this?

thanks
JT

By: Katherine White

Katherine White — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:37:39 +0000

Marika,

To keep the bees from drowning in the spring feeder, I made a float as in “A” in the diagram above. The slender pieces of wood that were left from cutting the rebates for the hive bodies came in quite handy for this.

Just like you, I melted beeswax to seal the seams of the feeder. It worked pretty well, but the wood of my feeder, being pine, is pretty porous so it soaks up a lot of moisture. I notice that Warre recommends paint to make the fall/winter feeder leakproof. That’s what I plan to use for the spring feeder… if I can get the wax removed well enough for the paint to stick!

A brief description of the fall/winter feeder? Yikes. Well, I’ll give it a shot. To begin with, you have a plain old hive body. The addition of a floor and two partition boards makes it a feeder for the top of the Warre hive.

The floor that goes about 3/4 of the way from the back of the box to the front. It is sloped with the shallow end in the back, so that the syrup flows toward the front. The front edge of the floor abuts a partition wall that goes most of the way, but not all the way, to the top of the hive box. This wall is covered with screen wire so that the bees have good footing and don’t drown. The bees only need access to a narrow pool of syrup. Anything more than that, and you get drowned bees. So Warre has a wall just behind the screened wall I’ve just described. It goes to the top of the box to keep bees from getting behind it, and it is supported on protruding nails on the bottom to let the syrup flow beneath it. The floor is supported by battens, and both walls slide into battens on the hive box walls. A peek at Warre’s diagram in “Beekeeping for All” will help this description make a lot more sense!

Warre suggests topping the feeder with a sheet of glass. I assume this is so you can check the syrup level without unnecessarily opening the hive and releasing scent and heat.

I hope that is helpful. It was a bit of a stretch for me. I’m an artist, and I can’t describe anything well without drawing pictures. ;o)

Lavon, I started looking at Warres because of lifting issues as well, and then found that the whole theory of these hives makes lovely sense. Best wishes with your new hives!

Katherine

By: Lavon

Lavon — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:38:16 +0000

As a 72 yr old female beekeeper, I have been strugggling with the weight of the Langs in my yard, and deeply concerned about using the chemicals necessary to control mites. Your site has given me hope that a lighter, more natural way to keep bees is available. Thank you. I am getting some Warres made as I speak. For older beekeepers, the Warres definitely seem the way to go.

By: Marika

Marika — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:32:51 +0000

Katherine,
Thanks for letting me how you’ve made adjustments to the above model.

I need to read up on the fall feeder in the Beekeeping For All– in the meantime could you please summarize in a few sentences where it goes and how it’s designed?

Also when you built the spring feeder, did you do anything to ensure it is leak proof? This was the other problem I ran into. Mine ended up leaking. I had posted earlier about this but nobody responded about it. I ended up using some beeswax I melted down into the joints of the feeder to make it leak proof.

It was tricky to keep the bees from drowning and so I put lots of little pcs of wood in it.

I am curious what others have used as feeders if you are using the Warre?

thx,
Marika