Some Background
The concept for the hive was first imagined in 2016 when George invited Nat to tag along while he went to check on some of his hives. Nat was immediately struck by how labor intensive it was to perform hive maintenance… repeatedly lifting heavy, honey-filled supers was a lot of work! So, in true Nat fashion, he started thinking about ways to alter the Langstroth design and eliminate the need for any lifting. The two of them got to work and started building prototypes, eventually creating an early version of what is now the Two Queen Keeper.
George took their prototypes from the shop to the field and put bees in them. Over time, they observed how the bees responded to small design changes and worked through the early flaws. They hit the road and brought their hives to several beekeeping conventions, where they were met with equal parts skepticism and enthusiasm: skepticism from those who saw “two queens” and “no lifting” and didn’t bother to give them a chance, and enthusiasm from those who decided to stop and take a closer look. It was immediately clear to them that they had created something valuable, but they had one major problem: beyond making small quantities of the hive themselves and selling by word of mouth, they didn’t know how to scale their business and take things to the next level. It wasn’t long before the pandemic hit, beekeeping shows took a hiatus, and their progress was stalled. They continued to develop the product (enter the One Queen Keeper) but had no clear path forward - they knew they needed help, but they had no promising leads.
Dave first heard about the hive project while visiting with Nat’s family in 2018. After the pandemic, Dave got a job in marketing and moved back to the area. While hanging out with Nat’s son at a Thanksgiving get together in 2022, he asked him how the hive project was coming along. After learning that Nat and George were in need of someone that could help them bring their products to market, he immediately offered to help. After a handful of meetings, the three of them decided to partner and The Keeper’s Hive was formed in the Spring of 2023.
The next chapter of our story hasn’t been written yet, but we hope that you’ll be a part of it!