The Pleasure of Beekeeping with the Warré Hive is a practical guide focused on constructing and managing round or polygonal Warré-style beehives. The document is a translation by David Heaf of material compiled by Jean-François Dardenne and explores alternative hive designs that attempt to recreate the natural, rounded living spaces historically favored by honeybees. The guide argues that while modern square and rectangular hives dominate contemporary beekeeping, traditional round hives may provide environmental advantages for the colony.
The first half of the guide provides detailed woodworking instructions for building polygonal hives that approximate a circular shape while maintaining the same internal volume as a standard Warré hive body (18.9 liters). Multiple construction methods are presented, including the use of routers, spindle moulders, tongue-and-groove joints, observation windows, and different polygon configurations such as octagonal, dodecagonal, and hexadecagonal hive bodies. Numerous photographs and diagrams illustrate the building process and show completed hive designs.
The second section summarizes the work of beekeeper R. Leroy, who advocated combining the advantages of traditional skep-style beekeeping with selected benefits of modern hive management. Leroy believed the round shape of traditional hives better matched the natural behavior of bees and helped maintain a more stable internal hive climate. His “combination hive” used a circular brood chamber with removable supers for honey harvesting while preserving many characteristics of older fixed-comb systems.
The final section describes Gilbert Veuille’s divisible round hive, constructed from straw and plaster modules. Veuille reports several perceived benefits of the cylindrical design, including reduced air currents, improved temperature stability, easier comb renewal, reduced moisture accumulation, and improved colony health. The guide concludes with discussions of hive management, materials, honey harvesting, and natural beekeeping practices.
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