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What’s the BUZZ All About?

The Hive Jive is a podcast that is dedicated to helping both novice and experienced beekeepers alike. The hosts provide an engaging and entertaining way to get your beekeeping education while enjoying a few laughs along the way. Are you ready to look at your favorite hobby from a new perspective? We are here to help you brave the sting of beekeeping so you can reap the sweet rewards! Tune in today and join us on our beekeeping adventures…

Meet the Hosts

Host: John J Swan

John is the host of The Hive Jive Beekeeping Podcast where he helps educate people around the world about beekeeping, honeybees, pollinators, and their importance. John is a certified Master Beekeeper, former Vice President and Director for the Texas Beekeeper's Association, and is also the Past President of the Travis County Beekeeper's Association in Texas.

John is the owner of Wicked Bee, where he has professionally managed over 200 honey bee colonies throughout the years. He provides training and consultations for other beekeepers, hive management services, and travels the country speaking to large audiences about beekeeping. From the hives at his apiary, John produces his unique line of Wicked Bee Honey products. He is also the owner of Wicked Bee Removal Service which was created to help save honeybees from unnecessary eradication by providing live bee removal and relocation services when bees setup a colony in an undesirable location. To date, John has done over one thousand bee removals during his career, effectively saving these feral colonies from extermination!

Co-Host: Nathalie B

Nathalie B. is a the Host of the Natural Beekeeping Corner, and the Co-Host of the Beekeeper Chats here on The Hive Jive. Nathalie is an Austin TX based French native, an MBA grad from Ohio-State, a certified Master Beekeeper, and the owner of Bee-Mindful.com , a Texas Based company that offers advanced education, speaking engagements, and professional services in natural/sustainable beekeeping.

A contributor to Bee Culture magazine, Nathalie is also the founder of the first natural beekeeping club in TX, and the popular World Bee Day Natural Beekeeping Webinar.

Nathalie’s passion is helping beekeepers find a more natural approach to their beekeeping that moves away from the main-stream concepts of commercial beekeeping and treatments, and instead adopts a more mindful stance that is harmonious and bee-centric. This involves her two favorite things: Treatment Free Beekeeping, and Horizontal Beekeeping - especially Topbar Hives!

Co-Host: Ken Milam

Ken Milam has lived in Central Texas for over 56 years, and Milam County is named after his great-great uncle Ben Milam who helped with the building of the Republic of Texas.  Ken’s original passion has always been hunting and fishing, and in 1981 Ken started his own fishing guide service, Striper Fever, on the waters of Lake Buchanan where he has taken thousands of people fishing over the years.  He has been featured on numerous TV Hunting and Fishing shows over the years and published in many newspapers and magazines.  In 1986 Ken dipped his toe into radio and has been an on-air personality and DJ ever since.  Ken currently hosts “The Great Outdoors” and “The Sunday Sportsman” on AM 1300 The Zone.

Ken is at the heart of why The Hive Jive was started, to help new and experienced beekeepers look at beekeeping in a new way and improve upon their own beekeeping skills.  When Ken first came along, he didn’t know anything about honey bees or beekeeping, other than the fact that he wanted to dive into this new hobby head first.  The first two seasons use Ken’s journey to help others out there as they follow along with his pitfalls and victories.  His journey hasn’t been easy, but he loves helping get new people into beekeeping. As Ken puts it, he’s the color of the show with his out of left field banter.

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