What exactly makes my Warre hive so much different than a Langstroth?

[Candiebears]

 I know the dimensions are different... but my boxes and frames/foundation look the same as a Langstroth ... so what is it specifically that differentiates it?

[little john]

Different footprints - Warre's being much smaller.
Langs have frames, usually with foundation - Warre's have neither.
Warre's have a quilt box, Langs don't.

To enlarge a Warre, a box is nadired beneath the existing boxes, with Langs extra boxes (whether broods or supers) are placed above the existing boxes.

With Warre's, as the brood nest moves down the stack, honey is back-filled into the empty combs above it and is thus harvested from the top box. As a result of this, comb is constantly being created in the lower box, and removed from the top box - thus there is an on-going renewal of comb. With Langs, the brood comb has to be replaced every few years.

With Langs, inspections are typically made on a weekly basis, whereas with the Warre only two inspections are required during the year.

It would be much easier to list any one thing which is the same .... only there isn't anything. They are totally different forms of hive construction, and methods of keeping bees.

LJ

[Candiebears]

Different footprints - Warre's being much smaller.
Langs have frames, usually with foundation - Warre's have neither.
Warre's have a quilt box, Langs don't.

To enlarge a Warre, a box is nadired beneath the existing boxes, with Langs extra boxes (whether broods or supers) are placed above the existing boxes.

With Warre's, as the brood nest moves down the stack, honey is back-filled into the empty combs above it and is thus harvested from the top box. As a result of this, comb is constantly being created in the lower box, and removed from the top box - thus there is an on-going renewal of comb. With Langs, the brood comb has to be replaced every few years.

With Langs, inspections are typically made on a weekly basis, whereas with the Warre only two inspections are required during the year.

It would be much easier to list any one thing which is the same .... only there isn't anything. They are totally different forms of hive construction, and methods of keeping bees.

LJ

This is the one I bought http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/8-Frame-English-Garden-Hive/productinfo/254/  - mine has frames & foundation.. so is this Technically NOT a Warre hive?

[Maggiesdad]

Many localities have regulations requiring kept colonies to have removable combs, to facilitate inspection without destroying the hive. What Brushy is selling gives you the best of both worlds, removable combs plus most of Warre's method.

[little john]

This is the one I bought http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/8-Frame-English-Garden-Hive/productinfo/254/  - mine has frames & foundation.. so is this Technically NOT a Warre hive?

Hi - well, not so much NOT a Warre hive, as not the hive that Emile Warre finally recommended. He did try using frames (using boxes of a slightly larger size to accomodate them), but abandonded the idea, and in his final edition of 'Beekeeping for All' he recommends reverting to the use of Top Bars. Indeed, most people consider the Warre hive as being a 'Vertical Top Bar Hive'.

If you do a Google for "Beekeeping for All" - there are plenty of sources for the .pdf version of Warre's book which David Heaf translated from French. You'll certainly find a copy on the Biobees.com site, as well as an extract from an earlier edition in which frames were being trialed.
'Beekeeping for All' is a book well-worth reading for anyone running Warre Hives, although it does base much of it's rationale on conditions which exist(ed) in rural France.

David Heaf does have his own site somewhere - a Yahoo eGroup perhaps ? - can't be sure as over the last few years I've lost touch with that world.

I did run a couple of Russian 'Alpine' Hives (a Warre variant) for a while - the bees absolutely adored living in them - but sadly they don't play any part in my current plans. But - for a hobby beekeeper with a back-garden set-up - it really is a first class hive.

LJ

[Dallasbeek]

Little John, can you point us in the direction of plans for that Russian Alpine hive?

[Dallasbeek]

Never mind i Googled it.

[Robo]

This is the one I bought http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/8-Frame-English-Garden-Hive/productinfo/254/  - mine has frames & foundation.. so is this Technically NOT a Warre hive?

What you bought is an 8-frame Langstroth.    You can get Warre's "Beekeeping For All"  book free here -> http://bit.ly/warre
Well worth the read even for folks with Langstroth hives.

[Candiebears]

This is the one I bought http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/8-Frame-English-Garden-Hive/productinfo/254/  - mine has frames & foundation.. so is this Technically NOT a Warre hive?

What you bought is an 8-frame Langstroth.    You can get Warre's "Beekeeping For All"  book free here -> http://bit.ly/warre
Well worth the read even for folks with Langstroth hives.

Thank you.. I was very confused!! 

[Michael Bush]

Not a Warre'.  That is a Langstroth.