The Warre Store

 Hive scale instructions

The hive scale is a digital torque adaptor with a special lift bracket for weighing your hives. As marketed, the torque adaptor is typically used to measure how much a nut or bolt is tightened. The instruction sheet that came with the unit from the factory may be found in its plastic carrying case, should you ever need it. Although the torque adaptor is ordinary, it is the specially designed lift bracket that makes the setup unique and useful for our purposes.

Initial set-up

You’ll likely a transparent piece of plastic film sticking out from under the battery cover on the back of the torque adaptor. Its purpose is to prevent the unit from turning on over and over again during shipping and using the battery unnecessarily. Simply pull to remove this plastic; you don’t need to remove the battery cover.

Press and release the M button to power the unit On. The display momentarily shows “cA0”, the red LED flashes once and the unit beeps. You’ll see that the unit is set to measure in kg-cm, which is shown in the lower right of the display. Press and release the U button twice in order to change from kg-cm to in-lbs. Finally, turn off the straight-downward pointing arrow in the upper left of the display by pressing and releasing the T button just once.

The unit is now ready for use weighing your hives. As long as you don’t change them, these initial settings remain the same until the battery dies and/or is replaced. However, I highly recommend that you check the display each time you take measurements, just in case any settings get changed accidentally.

How it Works

The process of weighing your hives is really quite simple. Start by assembling the scale’s components together. First, snap the male end of the torque adaptor into the (included) 1/2” drive to 3/8” drive adaptor, and then snap the male end of that adaptor into the square cut-out in the lift bracket. Finally, plug a 1/2” drive ratchet or breaker bar (not included) into the female end of the torque adaptor.

The scale can be used to weigh most anything you want. All you have to do is lift one end/side of an item high enough to insert and roughly center the lift bracket beneath it. Then, simply power the unit on and use your 1/2” ratchet to slowly and steadily rotate the lift bracket clockwise, until the item is lifted up about 1/4" or so. The weight will be immediately displayed and you can set the item down. The reading displayed is the item’s total weight, in pounds, assuming that the weight of the item is distributed more or less evenly. After recording the weight, pressing and holding the M button for 2 seconds will zero the display. If you wish, you can take one or two more readings and compare them or figure an average. Remember that it’s much easier to push down on the ratchet than to pull up on it and also that it’s very important that the torque adaptor doesn’t touch anything when measurements are being taken. If it does, you’ll get incorrect readings and could damage the plastic housing. If at any time you’re having difficulty seeing the display, you can rotate the torque adaptor housing around the shaft to one of 8 different positions (Yes, it’s supposed to do that, it’s not broken).

Weighing you Hives

In order to get the most accurate readings, your hive should be set up so that the handles of the hive bodies are in front and back of the hive. Because of the way bees store nectar in the combs as they are making honey, it’s important that all of the combs in the hive be lifted in the same way with the hive scale. When the handles are at the front and rear, the combs are perpendicular to the rear of the hive, which is where you’ll be taking the measurements.

The screened floors of our hives have an opening at the bottom rear that is usually used for insertion of a varroa mite board. This is the perfect place to insert the lift bracket when you weigh your hive, assuming that your hive is on some kind of stand and not the ground. Optionally, you can create a gap between the bottom hive body and the floor by putting metal washers under the corners of one side of the hive body (a side with a handle). Create just enough space to be able to insert the lift bracket. The washers can be left in place indefinitely, as long as the space is minimal so that bees can enter or exit through the gap you create. Remove the roof from the hive (leave the quilt box on) and remember to roughly center the lift bracket when taking measurements.

It's important you know that honey is very heavy. Most new beekeepers don’t realize just how heavy it is. When a hive is heavy it’s because it’s got a lot of stores in it. The hive itself (the wood), the bees, wax, brood and pollen make up only a small fraction of the weight. Below is a list of hive components and their approximate weights.

Now let’s talk about what the weight readings mean. First, you need to determine how much your hive would weigh (approximately) if there were no stores at all. Weight that is greater than this determination will be from honey and/or sugar syrup that you have fed. The weight of our hive components should be estimated as follows:

Floor assembly (square or octagonal) = 2.25 lbs.
Warre hive body with top bars = 5.0 lbs.
Warre hive body with frames = 6.5 lbs
Octagonal hive body with top bars = 4.5 lbs.
Quilt box with sawdust = 2.0 lbs.
Wax in any box that is fully drawn with comb = 1 lb.
Bees and brood (average during the fall months) = 7 lbs.
Hivetop feeder (empty) = 3.5 lbs.

Here is an example of how to estimate a colony’s stores by using the figures above:

You have a Warre hive with four top bar hive bodies that are all full of comb, and what seems to be a healthy bee colony. The weight of this hive with no stores is determined as follows:

Floor assembly = 2.25 lbs.
4 hive bodies with fully drawn comb = 24 lbs.
Bees and brood = 7 lbs.
Quilt box with sawdust = 2.0 lbs.

The total weight of this hive without any stores would be very close to 35.25 lbs. I’d simply round this up to 36 lbs. to be on the safe side.

So, if this hive weighs in at 112 lbs., this indicates that your colony has about 76 lbs. of stores, which is way more than enough to over-winter a colony anywhere in the United States. 30 lbs. of stores should definitely be more than enough carry a colony through a winter in a Warre hive. Because they are more efficient, octagonal hives can over-winter on about 25 lbs. stores. This is only an example to explain how to do the math, but a lot of honey could certainly be harvested from this hive.

Much more information about how to integrate the use of the hive scale into your hive management can be found in several sections of our website. By using the specifications listed above, you can determine the amount of stores a colony has regardless of your hive’s configuration. Continue to weigh and feed your hives as late in the fall as weather will allow to ensure that they have adequate stores for winter. If you have any questions at all, please call, text or email me.   -Chris