La ruche rebelle sans récolte de miel proposes various designs of hives to re-wild honey bees in the yard. Would I be in France would I be particularly interested in re-wilding the French black bee. The principle of their hives is that they are not to be opened and the honey remains for the bees. I cannot agree more. For this specific hive, Gilbert Veuille designed a combination of a Warre (wedged bars, quilt box and telescopic roof) with a sloped body that brings a singular touch. I suspect that this belly would tend to mimic a chestnut log hive, especially when the log has been cut close to the root system. I decided over a winter rainy week-end to use some planks let over from the house and give it a shot. The cypress planks are 2 inches thick and procure a fair insulation to the inner chamber, likewise the entrance slot is small (similar to Japanse hives having to deal with the asian Hornet like in France) and the top is covered by a heavy roof under which a quilt box of red cedar shaving covers the bars topped by a mosquito net so the bees don’t chew on the quilt. I use now this mosquito net in all my Warre hives and this prevents the quick chew of the fabric, even when it is impregnated with wax. The summary of the design is as follows:

The first finished model had this appealing look of stability. I recycled a roof from a previous project with minor modifications, which proved to be too short in the front after the first rains. I extended the front at a later stage.

I built a platform to support the biodiversity hive in the trees. The principle is that the weight of the hive on the platform presses on the lever up and down along the trunk and provides sufficient pinch to keep the platform horizontal and set at the desired level. The great advantage of such a contraption is that the platform can be moved up and down along the trunk fairly easily but also as it holds by pressure it does not harm the tree with nails or screws.

A swarm moved in the hive on May 2, 2019.

By mid-June, the bees started to get real warm in the afternoon. The temperature was customarily reaching 95 degrees Fahrenheit- 35 degrees Celsius with close to 100 pct humidity.