So, just an update from the deviant:
My Warre hive is doing quite well! For those of you not familiar with it, the Warre hive/technique is a natural form of beekeeping that does not use frequent inspections or chemicals or smoke. The idea is to let the bees do what bees do. My hive is lot smaller than your Langstroths, and I'll get a lot less honey, but I believe I will have happier, healthier bees.
I started with two boxes this spring, with a 5 lb package of Carnioians. Once I noticed young bees out foraging, I added a third box on the bottom(the Warre adds boxes underneath the full ones, taking advantage of bees natural tendency to move downward, harvesting honey by removing full boxes from the top in the fall-no queen exluders are used). I got a little over excited, and added a fourth box on the top. That was a mistake. Warres don't use foundation, just top bars. So far my girls have been building comb along the bars, in beautifully straight lines. But with the empty super, they started building UP from the bars of the box below, instead of climbing up the walls to build DOWN. Bees, like chickens, can never be expected to do what they are supposed to. I had to remove that box and scrape off the comb. the good news is they had just about filled the box in only two weeks! I got about four ounces of lovely virgin wax, and there was even a little honey being stored! I managed to extract only about two ounces of honey. This is promising, it shows my girls are doing quite well. I plan on adding that fourth box back onto the bottom once the third box is full. And this fall, I will have one, maybe two boxes full of comb and honey to harvest!
I also discovered that having observation windows is a must. I make my own boxes(the Warre is quite simple to make), and built one with an observation window(currently the bottom box, number three). I am now modifying the fourth box with a window, and plan on doing the same with each of the others as I remove them, harvest honey, and add them back underneath each spring. I just hate not knowing what is going on in there, and since with this method inspections are rare, I kinda need the window if I want to watch them working. Better than tv!
