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The Warré Hive, meant for hands-off, minimalist and sustainable beekeeping practices, is used extensively by backyard beekeepers in the United States and Europe and in a number of large commercial apiaries. Abbé Émile Warré experimented with some 350 hives of various designs with the aim of producing a hive that was simple, economical, bee-friendly and which assured a surplus of honey for the beekeeper. The result was a hive whose construction and operation is described in his book (and free e-book) “Beekeeping For All”. Rather than “supering,” or adding empty boxes to the top of the hive, Warré hives are “nadired,” meaning that empty boxes are added to the bottom. This mimics the environment of a wild colony, as bees prefer building downwards from the top of their cavity. A Warré hive is a vertical top bar hive having eight foundationless top bars in each box. As these hives were designed most specifically for over-wintering of bees in the cold French climate, they provide a comfortable home for honeybees to flourish in the Pacific Northwest.
You may find a free e-book (PDF) of Abbé Warré’s book “Beekeeping for All” at http://warre.biobees.com/bfa.htm. This book should be read by all Warré beekeepers. You may download it and have it bound at a local printer, or you may purchase the bound edition.
An excellent resource on the Warré hive itself is at www.warre.biobees.com There are assembly diagrams and very useful information at that website ( notice especially the links: Warré plans and Warré methods).
For more on the scientific basis of bee-friendly beekeeping see www.bee-friendly.co.uk .
I encourage you to also read "The Complete Idiots Guide to Beekeeping" by Dean Stiglitz and Laurie Herboldsheimer. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Beekeeping/dp/1615640118
To learn more about sustainable beekeeping with Warré beehives, you will want to read "The Bee-Friendly Beekeeper: A Sustainable Approach" by David Heaf < www.bee-friendly.co.uk > and I recommend "Nine Lectures on Bees" by Rudolf Steiner, on the wisdom contained in the beehive. You may read it online here <http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA351/English/SGP1975/NinBee_index.html>
Bill Wood