Save The Bees

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A honey bee on a red zinnia flower.

More bees. More life.

Save The Bees connects people with community hives and the habitat work that helps wild bees.

Find a hive near youHow it works

Bees help grow our food and our wild places.

Honey bees pollinate of U.S. crops each year.[1]

Animals such as bees pollinate about 7 in 8 flowering plants.[2]

Bees are under pressure.[2]

Habitat loss
Bees lose the land where they feed and nest, and the land that remains breaks into small pieces.
Intensive farming
Farms grow one crop across large fields in place of mixed plants.
Pesticides
Pesticide use grows as farmland grows.
Pests and diseases
Pests and diseases weaken bees in hives and in the wild.
Climate change
Heat extremes and shifts in flowering time break the link between flowers and bees.

U.S. beekeepers lost about 4 in 10 of their managed colonies from April 2025 to April 2026.[3]

Beekeepers replace lost colonies, so the number of colonies does not fall by the same share.

See how U.S. honey bee hives have changed

Context figures, not Adopt The Bees impact measures.

Sources
  1. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Honey Bees (The People's Garden).
  2. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Pollination Services.
  3. Auburn University and Apiary Inspectors of America, U.S. Beekeeping Survey 2025–2026.

A hive is only part of the story. We pair professionally managed honey bee hives in your city with habitat work for native bees. We report the two separately, so you can tell them apart.

Look inside a beehive

Hives and habitat, kept apart

Honey bee hives and native bee habitat have different goals and different evidence. We show them side by side and never blend them.

A beekeeper in a protective veil and gloves working at hive boxes outdoors.

Community hives

Professionally managed honey bee hives, hosted in your city. Honey bee activity is the economic engine that helps pay for habitat work.

Find a hive

Native habitat

Plants, nesting resources, monitoring, and education for wild bees. Habitat is its own project, with its own activities, evidence, and outcomes.

How the model works

Verified updates

Hive Notes are public updates. We verify and review them before we publish them. An exact hive location can stay private.

Read the questions

Open bee data

Browse documented bee species counts by country, with the release date and the limits of the data shown.

Bees by country

From finding a city to following a hive

  1. Find your city

    Search for your city. A city page can exist before a hive does, and it shows what is happening nearby.

    Find a hive

  2. Read the offer

    Before a campaign accepts support, it explains its purpose, its terms, and what happens if it misses its goal.

  3. Support a campaign

    Support is not hive ownership. Payments are not open yet, so today you can register interest by email. We collect no payment.

    See sample campaigns

  4. Follow the hive

    Hive Notes are public updates from the people caring for a hive. We verify and review them before we publish them.

Right now: payments are not open yet. You can find a city and register interest. We collect no payment.

Register interest

A first season.

A new honey bee colony needs a few checks through the year. Saving Bees training lets you practice them.

  1. Spring

    Open the hive on a calm day above 55 °F, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. On a new package, check the cage on day 3 or 4. Look for eggs on day 7 to 10.

  2. Summer

    While the colony is active, inspect about every 10 days to 3 weeks. Check the brood, the food, the space, pests and disease, and the hive. You do not need to find the queen every time.

  3. Autumn

    Judge the stores by the weight of the hive. Write down the date, the weather, the brood pattern, the food, the space, and any action.

  4. Winter

    Leave the hive closed on a cold or windy day. Cold or windy weather can chill or kill bees.

Penn State Extension and Utah State University Extension publish these checks. Ask a local extension service what changes in your region.

Practice on a colony

Start with your city

A city page can exist before a hive does, so you can follow your area and ask for a hive where you live.

Search for a place, or select a state on the globe.

Find a hive near you

The large honey pin is California. Our first launch city is Sacramento, CA. See its page. A pin marks a state, not a hive.

Start local.

Register interest in a community hive, or volunteer near you. We collect no payment.

Adopt a hiveVolunteer