Meet The Keepers

George Datto

Co-Founder, Co-inventor

George began as a hobbyist beekeeper in 2008 with an apiary at his farm in southeastern Pennsylvania. He is President of the Chester County Beekeepers Association of Pennsylvania (CCBA), where he created the apprentice and citizen science programs for the 700-member organization. He also leads the queen mating program and manages the CCBA nucleus colony apiary, which helps promote and distribute high-quality local genetics. George manages 70 hives at seven apiaries, including Winterthur Museum and Garden in Delaware and SIW Vegetables in the Brandywine River Valley.

Nat Wolfe

Co-founder, co-inventor

Nat is a retired Master Carpenter and proud grandfather who, in addition to being an expert woodworker, is also a highly knowledgeable mechanic, electrician, welder – you name it. With an innate talent for engineering and product design, Nat is a born inventor who embodies the do-it-yourself mentality. Nat was introduced to beekeeping by George, and immediately started thinking about ways to reduce the physical demands of the Langstroth hive. The first prototype they created together was a two queen hive called "The Nat Hive" in honor of Nat's contribution to the design. It has since evolved into the Two Queen Keeper.

Dave McNeeley

Co-founder, manager

Dave befriended Nat’s youngest son when they were in fourth grade, and from then on was like a part of the family. A small-town kid with a love for the outdoors, he somehow found himself in New York City, where he spent many years managing operations and logistics for an events company. After relocating closer to home and starting a role in digital marketing, he learned that Nat and George needed help launching their business and immediately offered to assist them any way that he could.

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.