This teen 3D printed a beehive for his bedroom

While many 13-year-old boys might spend their summers playing video games or attending camp, Oliver Taylor decided to build a custom-made, 3D-printed beehive—in his bedroom.

Oliver, who lives in Utah, built the DIY insect habitat with two hexagonal, 3D-printed units connected to his bedroom window. Bees enter through a ventilation tube attached to the window, which slightly resembles a stand-up air conditioning unit. The hexagonal hives are modular in design, meaning Oliver can theoretically continue expanding their size by connecting additional units. But they’ve already attracted a substantial population. Oliver believes around 30,000 to 40,000 bees currently nestle together in his hives. And yes, they are producing honey.

Oliver’s father, a prominent visual artist, posted a video of the hive last week on Threads and Instagram. As of writing, it has revived over 23,000 likes and 10 million views. One Reddit commenter jokingly compared the hive as a “free-white noise machine.”

“I really wasn’t expecting that,” Oliver told Popular Science when asked about the online reception his hive has received. 

From LEGOS to beehives 

Oliver has been interested in building things for as long as he can remember. He started out, like many kids, with Lego sets. That evolved into “cardboard battles” with friends, where they fabricated swords and armor out of cardboard. Oliver says he received his first basic 3D printer when he turned 8. He then quickly learned how to use an open-source software called Blender to make his own designs. When he turned 11, Oliver got a heavier-duty Prusa printer, which he has used to fabricate a variety of structures. He has already built a 20-foot trebuchet (basically a large catapult) that lived in his family’s yard. He’s now in the process of building an even bigger one.

Oliver is familiar with bees—his family already has several traditional outdoor hives. He says he was inspired to make a miniature bedroom version after coming across a similar commercial design online. But that model was priced at over $1,000, which isn’t exactly in a middle schooler’s budget. After studying the design further, Oliver set out to see if he could simply build a version of it himself.

“I just thought I would build my own,” Oliver said.

Early in the process, Oliver spotted a design flaw in the reference model that he thought he could improve. The version he was looking at had only one door on each side of the hive, which increased the risk of bees swarming out anytime someone tried to add another hexagonal unit. Oliver’s solution was to add a second door, somewhat inspired by submarine hatches, to prevent the bees from spilling out. The hives, which hang on the wall using hooks, are also easily removable. That’s useful for maintenance and cleaning, but also helpful if Oliver needs to quickly protect the hive from a swarm of invading bees.

“They’re called robbers,” Oliver said of the invader bees. “They come and take honey.” 

With the design complete, it was time to bring in the bees. To do that, Oliver got a starter kit from a bee farm that came with a queen and around 12,000 bees. He then designed a feeder system on the top of the hive that he filled up with sugar water when the hive was young to help the bees acclimate to their new home. Before long, the bees were thriving and began to multiply. On a video call, Oliver showed Popular Science what looked like dozens of bees buzzing their way in and out of the ventilation system.

“They just want to stay with the queen and with their house,” Oliver explained. 

A bedroom full of bees 

Building a bedroom beehive isn’t for the faint of heart. At one point, Oliver says he left his dad in charge of “babysitting” the hive while he was away on a scout camping trip. At the time, the hive had a small hole in one area that could be temporarily exposed if the sugar water levels dropped too low. Oliver’s dad opened the bedroom door and found around 100 bees buzzing around, which he had to promptly vacuum up. Ironically, Oliver’s mom is actually allergic to bees—but that still hasn’t stopped her from helping her son along the way.

“She’s helped me, but she puts on a bee suit,” Oliver said. “I don’t need one. Bees don’t just come and sting you.”

Oliver says he wants to implement a honey extraction system. That opens the possibility of one day selling honey made by bees in a 3D printed hive. 

Looking ahead, Oliver says he wants to add one more hexagonal unit to his growing hive. He points to some empty space on his bedroom walls and notes that, at least in theory, he could eventually turn the entire area into one sprawling beehive.

“I mean, I could go all the way to the wall, but I don’t know,” he said. “That’d be kind of crazy.”

For decades, Popular Science has highlighted the work of hobbyists. Whether it’s a high school teacher making a hovercraft or a group of volunteers building WWI replica plane, we love stories of people using their hands to craft cool things. If you or someone you know is a DIY hobbyist working on a project, we’d like an introduction. 

 

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