Warm-Way and Cold-Way
Lexikon
Warm way and cold way describe how the combs inside a hive are aligned relative to the entrance.
Warm way and cold way describe how the combs inside a hive are aligned relative to the entrance. In the cold way, the spaces between the combs run at right angles to the entrance toward the back of the hive, so that looking through the entrance you see straight into the spaces between the combs. In the warm way, by contrast, the first comb stands crosswise in front of the entrance, so that bees flying in first meet the comb surface.
The terms date from a time when hives still had closed floors: it was assumed that the crosswise comb in the warm way kept cold drafts from the entrance out better than in the cold way, where the spaces lead straight inside like channels. With the open mesh floors used almost everywhere today, this original temperature difference has practically no significance any more.
For everyday work the difference nevertheless remains relevant, though more for the beekeeper than for the bees: in the warm way, combs can be pulled from back to front like index cards and worked on from the back, while in the cold way the beekeeper stands at the side of the hive and lifts the frames straight up and out. Some hive systems, such as the square Warré hive, even allow switching between the two arrangements by turning the boxes.