About Warré
Hives
Designed over 80 years ago by the French Abbé Emile Warré after a lifetime of study and
experimentation, the Warré hive system or la rouche populaire has become an increasingly
popular alternative to the Langstroth hives used by commercial beekeepers among
backyard beekeepers seeking a simpler, more natural and less costly system for keeping
bees.
The key features of the Warré
hive are:
1. The use of a grooved bar rather than a four-sided frame on which the bees build their
honeycomb. This simplifies management and gives bees greater freedom over the size of
the individual cells.
2. Smaller, lighter hive boxes, making it possible to harvest honey from the bottom of
the hive, which is less stressful to the bees than opening the top of the hive, causing
the pheremone-propolis atmosphere inside to be lost.
3. A two-piece roof system with an insulating "quilt" box that allows excess moisture
to dissipate while providing superior insulation against winter cold.
