Variations on Warré
Delon
Frèrès & Guillaume
Heaf
Dardenne
Gatineau
Groups / Fora
Yahoo e-group
Biobees.com
forum
Abbé Warré's book
An identical hive concept to Warré's was first published by Pfarrer Johann Ludwig Christ (1739-1813) in his book Anweisung zur nützlichen and angenehmen Bienenzucht für alle Gegenden which was first published in 1779. The contents of this page are based on the second edition of 1783 which has been transcribed from Old German by Eric Zeissloff and published by him in limited quantities.
Christ appears to have got the idea for his hive from straw magazine hives which are extendable indefinitely by adding further ekes underneath.
The following table compares Abbé Warré's hive with that of Pfarrer Christ:
| Feature | Warré | Christ |
| Inside plan size | 300 x 300 mm | Between 298 x 298 mm (if wall thickness is 27 mm) or 304 x 304 mm (if wall thickness 24 mm) |
| Comb height | 200 mm | 122 mm |
| Shuttered windows | None (only in the Frèrès-Guillaume modification) | 190 x 68 mm in each box at the rear |
| Entrance | 120 x 15 mm, via floor board | 108 x 34 mm in the bottom edge of the front of each box with built in perforated closer and entrance restrictor. The entrance of only the bottom box is open. |
| Floor | Flat board with entrance notch and alighting board fixed underneath | Flat board extending 189 mm in front of the entrance and the whole width of the hive. |
| Cover | Coarse cloth on top-bars, wood edged quilt over this containing natural insulating material retained with a coarse cloth | Wooden board with window |
| Roof | Gabled roof with ventilated cavity | Gabled roof only if the hive is not in a roofed bee stand |
| Top-bars | 8 x 24 mm wide bars at 36 mm centres | 6 x 27 mm wide bars; spacing not stated |
| Honey yield per box | 12 kg | 4.59 kg |
| Wintering | One box of honey, one box of drawn comb below the honey | Two boxes of honey, two boxes of drawn comb below the honey |
| Separating boxes | Slight rotation after easing with hive tool | Draw a piano wire through from front to back, combs cold-way |
More details of the Christ hive are included in a PDF.
Acknowledgement: We thank Eric Zeissloff for making Christ's book available. For details on how to order the book contact him by email: z.eric (at) onlinehome.de.