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The Beecosystem: A Modular Indoor Honeybee Hive With Outdoor Commuting Tube

A solid bee-plus

By Rain Noe - February 20, 2018

in Sustainable Design

Ant farms are lame because the ants don't really do much, other than walk around showing off how much weight they can carry. Wouldn't you rather have an indoor beehive, where you can see the little buggers making honey?

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"I sure would," you say, "but I don't want to get stung everytime I let them out." Of course you don't! That's why entrepreneur Michael Zaengle developed the Beecosystem. This hexagonal-shaped viewing case features a transparent tube that "vents" outside of your window for ingress and egress.

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The hives are modular, so you can add more hives as needed, with an entryway between the two.

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Zaengle has also designed a sort of crumb tray on the bottom, so you can remove discarded beeswax caps (or cigarette butts, if your bees smoke).

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Take a look:

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I was curious as to how you harvest honey from the thing, since they didn't show it in the video. I dug through the instruction manual and it turns out that the harvesting part needs to be done outside. You're meant to pop a hive off of the wall bracket, put that bomb technician suit on and carry the hive outdoors where you can open the back up and commit your honey burglary.

Zaengle mentions an IndieGogo in the video. The video went live yesterday but oddly I can find no link to any IndieGogo campaign on his website nor under the video itself, so perhaps it's still in the works. Maybe he just wants to generate some…buzz.

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Alex Netz

6 years ago

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As a rookie apiculturist, I'll have some answers!
1:where do u get your bees? In the mail of course! You can buy a nuclear colony, which includes queen, worker and drones, check out your local craigslist or just order online and get it in the mail.
2: in a typical hive, the beekeper opens up the box a few times a seasons, to check for pests, inspect growth, harvest honey etc. Seasoned beekepers do not wear head protection, they might wear gloves and tight clothing, at most. Yes, once in a while they get stung, but not very common and eventually you get used to it (unless you have an allergy, in which case you should prob pick a different hobby). New beekepers, myself included , wear that hat with a net , double up on clothing, stick their pants in their socks!

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Aaron Beese

6 years ago

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What could possibly go wrong?

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Fraser Pyke

6 years ago

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I love this, I can get behind any idea that helps connect people (especially inner city dwellers) with nature. The way it allows people to easily observe the bees and watch them build their hive is a great concept. In saying that I've got a few questions and concerns.
1. This seems like a product targeted at non beekeepers. So my natural question is where do I get bees from?
2. The window hose seems like an afterthought. Surely you could put a connector or even a 10c hose clamp on the hose to stop it pulling out and remove the flap all together. The flap seals off the hive or the window unit, what about the bees that are at the other end of the hose. ie. The hose comes out of only the window unit, now you have a hive of bees with a hose that leads into your living room instead.
3. When the unit is outside how close can you get before the bees start kicking up a stink? The guy in the video says how great it is to see the bees up close. There is also a shot of him at 2:42 standing next to the hive with a bee on his forehead, that's too close for me thanks.
Rain I don't expect you to know the answers but this feels more like a early concept than a product ready for market.

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