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Abbé Warré's book
Beekeeping for All:
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.
Stefan Grunert has transcribed the 1798 edition from Old German and published it for free access here .
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.
Rudi Maurer at Villmar in Germany has built and populated a Christ hive. See his detailed account of it at https://www.bienenundnatur.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Bauanleitung-Christsche-Schaubeute.pdf. The following photos are kindly sent by Rudi Maurer. They show a 7-box Christ hive and the top and underside views of one box.
So that Christ's contribution is not forgotten, the Gesellschaft der Freunde der Landesanstalt für Bienenkunde (Society of Friends of the State Centre for Apiculture) at the University of Hohenheim, Germany, awards the 'Johann Ludwig Christ Medal' for distinguished work in the practice and knowledge of apiculture ( https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/bienenkunde/freunde/index.html ).
Acknowledgement: We thank Eric Zeissloff for making Christ's book available. For details on how to order the book contact him by email: eric.zeissloff (at) free.fr.