Beeswax strips for Warré top bar beehives

Remarkably boring tutorial on preparing beeswax strips and fitting them into the top bars of Warré bee hives. Please be careful of hot wax and use no open flames!

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Warré
• Warre
• bee
• hive
• beehive
• beeswax
• beekeeping
• top bar
• topbar
• wax strip

[OutOfaBlueSky]

I really like the method of making strips for his bars. It has great use for KTBHs.

I just hate to tell him that in a Warre Hives, it is pointless, they are fixed comb hives and it doens't matter if it crosscombs.

[seaXcrow]

Pointless--?? Not at all. OutOfaBlueSky should actually research the Warré hive experience, or, like me, actually use Warrés for several seasons.If done with care, cutting side attachments and pulling brood comb for inspection is possible with the Warré hive, but only if the combs be built straight with no crosscomb bridging. This latter condition is predisposed to occur if wax strips are employed a the outset.

[seaXcrow]

And I'll add that, come harvest, it matters a heckuva lot whether the comb be discrete or crossbarred. Full honey comb is a messy b*tch to handle when it's been cut mid-comb. As Lang users also know, once freed a 3-4lb. hunk of comb is easy to handle; oozing, floppy cut comb, not so much.

[seaXcrow]

NB There seems to be some misunderstanding about the purpose of the wax strips. Running almost the full topbar length with an inch or so height not only prompts comb-building, but also retards crosscomb building, which a simple wax bead or popsicle stick cannot do.

Strips are more labor-intensive, but less chance of crosscomb is important for topbar beeks who desire inspectable brood comb and an easier harvest -- without regressing to Langstrothism.

[nicknakspeed]

I think your video and Idea are both brilliant....thank you for passing on your knowledge.

[seaXcrow]

Two responses:

1) It is contrary to Warré management principles to reuse comb for brood or honey. Even the framed-comb orthodoxy is grudgingly coming to accept that indefinite comb reuse is a Bad Idea.

2) Beeswax at the 35C/95F hive-normal temperature is quite plastic and can be gripped, masticated, and reused by comb workers into any shape or texture. That the strips recommended here are smooth is due to their method of production--comb, foundation, or strips seem to be accepted equally.