Adopt a Beehive in Colorado: How Hive Sponsorship Works
Most people love bees and have no way to keep them. Hive adoption fixes that. You sponsor a real hive, I do the beekeeping, and you get to follow your bees through the season without owning a single piece of equipment.
What is hive adoption?
When you adopt a hive, you sponsor a working colony of honey bees that I keep here in Colorado. Your support helps cover the real costs of keeping bees: the hive equipment, the bees, feeding, health care for the colony, and the time it takes to do it right. In return you get a front row seat.
How it works
There are two ways to take part for the 2027 season.
Full Hive Adoption. You get a hive of your own to follow. You choose its name and its pastel color, and it gets an engraved nameplate. Through the season you get videos from inside the hive, and you receive some Colorado honey in your first year.
Hive Share. A few people chip in together and follow one shared hive. You get the updates, and honey when there is plenty to go around.
If you want to see the bees up close, guided hive visits are available as an extra, open to anyone.
What to expect from the honey
Honey depends on the weather, the forage, and the colony, and bees do not follow a schedule. I would rather be honest than overpromise. You get honey when there is honey. Hive adoption is about the bees first and the jar second.
Why people do it
- You support a local Colorado beekeeper and real pollinators.
- You get to see inside a hive, which almost nobody ever does.
- You learn how a colony lives through spring, summer, fall, and winter.
- You get a hive with a name, a color, and a story that is yours.
Why it makes a great gift
Everyone has too many candles and too many gift cards. A named hive is different. It is a gift that keeps going all season, with videos and updates that show up long after the holidays. It works for gardeners, nature lovers, kids, teachers, coworkers, and the person who has everything. It also does some good for pollinators, which is a nice thing to put your name on.
Founding member hives are limited
I am keeping the first group small so I can give every hive real attention. There are 20 sponsored hives available for the first season, and when they are gone, they are gone.
How to adopt a hive
Use the contact page or message me on Instagram at @BrianKeepsBees and I will walk you through it. If you want to give a hive as a gift, tell me and we will set it up together. You can also see everything I offer on the services page.
Want to know what a season in the apiary looks like first? Read what my first year of beekeeping taught me.