About Hive & Pin
The story behind Hive Inspection Tack Cards
Created by a beekeeper for beekeepers
Hive & Pin is a hive tracking system that brings together the tactile ritual of hand-marked inspection cards and the convenience of modern digital record keeping. Beekeepers pin physical tack cards directly to their hives and move the pins after every inspection to reflect what they saw — queen status, temperament, population, brood health, mite counts, swarminess, and honey stores. Then they simply point their phone camera at the card, and the app automatically reads and records the data, building a complete history of each colony over time.
Hive & Pin is built for beekeepers of every level — from backyard hobbyists managing a few colonies to commercial operators overseeing dozens of apiaries — who want to spend less time on paperwork and more time with their bees. Visual charts track colony metrics over time, a honey harvest graph tallies your yearly yield, and task tracking keeps follow-up work from slipping through the cracks across every hive you manage.
It is created by Hilary Kearney, founder of Girl Next Door Honey in San Diego, California — a published author, educator, and beekeeper who manages 64 colonies across 33 apiaries and built Hive & Pin to share the simple, visual system she uses every day.
About the Creator
Hilary Kearney is a published author and the founder of Girl Next Door Honey. She started her beekeeping business in her home town of San Diego, California after graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Fine Art. Through her books and popular Instagram account, she has inspired people all over the world. When she's not rescuing bees, teaching about bees, photographing bees or managing one of her 64 colonies across 33 apiaries… she's sleeping and dreaming of bees.