Philips Beehive Concept Has Urban Farmers Abuzz

Urban beekeeping is reemerging as a popular pastime for city-dwellers, but a stack of conventional hive boxes won’t generally fit in a third-storey apartment. Philips’ new urban beehive concept, however, aims to bring a colony to every balcony in your town.

The hive consists of a smart-looking central chamber pre-loaded with honeycomb frames. Bees enter through an entrance above the potted flower and can be observed through the glass partition a la ant farms. The pull cord at the bottom releases smoke to calm the colony while you collect honey. Because filling your home with a few thousand pissed-off poisonous insects is generally not recommended.

Given that bee colonies worldwide are on the decline, a legion of these urban beehives could help stave off the population crash. Plus — free honey, free honey for everybody! [CNET]

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(2 Comments)
  • [–]

    Steve

    Friday, November 11, 2011 at 9:10 AM

    This exact same topic was covered a week ago.

    http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/11/urban-beehive-makes-bees-cool/

  • [–]

    Aaron

    Friday, November 11, 2011 at 1:23 PM

    And yet ‘I am Beekeeper’ still hasn’t taken off as a meme. Where’s the justice in that?

    Maybe it’d be funnier in German, ‘ICH EIN BEEKEEPER!’. Man everything is funnier in German.

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