The Map — SaveTheHives

Step 1 of 3

🐝 How to Beeline — Before You Start

Trap 7–8 bees minimum. You'll release one bee per bearing reading (3 per point × 2 points = 6), plus a couple spares in case one doesn't fly straight home.
Use a bee box with bait. A few drops of anise oil, lemongrass oil, or wintergreen oil works well — or use old dark honeycomb soaked in sugar syrup. Avoid plain commercial honey (disease risk).
Let bees feed until calm. A fed bee flies straight home; a startled one won't give a reliable bearing.
Release ONE bee at a time. Watch closely as it circles briefly then takes off — that's its beeline home.
Hold your phone flat and level — like a tabletop compass, screen facing up. Point the top edge of the phone in the same direction the bee flew, then tap "Bee flew off."
Repeat 3 times per point for a reliable averaged bearing before locking it in.
Stay away from metal — mailboxes, cars, fences, and metal posts throw off phone compasses badly. Take readings in open ground at least 10–15 feet from anything metal.
Calibrate your compass first — wave your phone in a slow figure-8 motion a few times before starting. Most phones do this automatically but it helps accuracy.
Walk as far as you reasonably can between Point A and B — even 20m works, but 40m+ gives noticeably tighter results since short baselines amplify small compass errors.

Find bees foraging on flowers nearby, then feed and capture a few in a bee box.

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Follow the gold arrow

📱 Hold phone flat & level, like a tabletop compass

📡 GPS: waiting for signal...