.This is said about warre: "The cost is about one-third to one-fourth the cost of one standard ten frame Langstroth hive. A Warre (pronounced war-ray) hive is simple to manage and maintain."
The claim that Finman quotes here is repeated on many, many Warre web sites, but usually with no citation or reference as to what this "cost" would entail, or how it was calculated.
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The only such calculation that I'm aware of, was one that was done by Frèrès and Guillaume, who wrote a book about Warre-style beekeeping, in which they refer to it as the "Ecological Hive". The cost analysis is titled
Cost comparison of honey production in frame and Warré ecological hives for 5 hives over 10 years.
The cost analysis includes many items for Langstroth hives that are not really necessary for Langstroth hives, and omits items for Warre hives that one would probably need for Warre hives, but it's a good starting point. They claim that a Langstroth hive yields 20 kg of honey and a Warre hive yields 12 kg of honey, but that the cost of producing one kilogram of honey is half as expensive in the Warre hive.
They assume, for example, that the Langstroth beekeeper will use an extractor, and that he will
buy his own extractor, and that a Warre beekeeper will harvest honey by simply letting it flow out of the comb.
One thing that adds to the cost, is the cost of time. They calculate how long the various beekeeping activities take, and then multiply that by an hourly rate. This is a good idea, for commercial beekeeping purposes, but for hobbyists, time spent with the bees isn't worth money.
They also assume that the Warre hive will swarm naturally, and that it is a good thing, and that you'll be able to capture the swarm. They assume that the Warre beekeeper will not create nucs to overwinter, but that the Langstroth beekeeper will.
Etc, etc. A good starting point, but not really objective.