Kilcunda · Bass Coast · Victoria

Honey the way the bees made it.

Raw. Unheated. Hand-extracted. Straight from our hives on the windy Bass Coast to your kitchen bench. No shortcuts, no chemistry, no fuss.

Taste the Honey Our Story

Our story

A small hive on the
edge of the sea.

Kilcunda sits where the paddocks meet Bass Straight — wild grasses, salt air, and wildflowers that bloom in defiance of the wind. It is, as it turns out, an extraordinary place to keep bees.

We started Killy Bees with one hive at the back of the property and a stubborn idea. That honey is supposed to taste like the place it came from. Not a single flower variety bottled to look pretty on a shelf, but a record of one season's weather, blossom and bee foraging.

" We don't make the honey. The bees do. We take just what they can spare.

Today we run a handful of hives across the Bass Coast and a little inland. Every jar is extracted by hand, strained and poured cold. That's the whole process. There's no point messing with perfection.

The Honey

Three things we
don't do to it.

01

No heat

Commercial honey is often warmed to make it flow faster through machinery. Heat is fast, but it strips out the bold aromatics, pollen, and enzymes that make raw honey raw. Ours never goes above hive temperature.

02

No additives

We don't need to enhance or "polish" the honey to make it shelf-stable and glossy. A little cloud means a little pollen, which is most of the good stuff. Expect it to crystallise. That's a feature of real honey.

03

No harsh treatments

No synthetic treatments, no antibiotics. We manage the hives with only organic treatments and seasonally give the queen bee a break from laying 1000 eggs a day to interrupt pest breeding cycles. It's slower and it costs more, and we're at peace with both of those things.

Current batch

Spring Wildflower

Pale gold with bold florals and a clean finish. The girls have been on coastal tea-tree, gorse, and clover. Pairs ridiculously well with sharp cheese, hot toast, and good butter.

Reserve a Jar

From hive to jar

Five honest
steps.

01

The bees do the work

Forage across paddock, scrub and coast. We do nothing here except occasionally apologise to the bees for the weather.

02

Frames pulled at capping

When the bees have sealed the comb with wax, the honey's ready. We only pull frames that are at least 80% capped.

03

Hand uncapped

Wax cappings sliced off the comb by hand. The wax goes into candles, skin cream and lip balm. Nothing wasted.

04

Spun & strained

Frames go into a hand-cranked centrifuge. Gravity settles the honey. Then one pass through cloth to catch wax and the occasional brave bee leg. No heat treating.

05

Choosing the final texture

Regular or creamed Honey. The time of year dictates this decision. Natural form or whipped to the status of creamed honey to survive the winter shelves.

Tasting notes

What you might
taste this season.

Spring

Pale & floral

Tea-tree, clover, wildflower. Light on the tongue, lifted, almost citrusy at the back.

Summer

Amber & full

Stronger, richer, faintly resinous. The kind of honey you want stirred into hot lemon and a strong gin.

Autumn

Dark & earthy

Coastal banksia and the last of the eucalypt. Almost malty. Pour it on porridge and be satisfied.

FAQ

Things people
usually ask.

Why has my honey gone solid?

It crystallised, which is what real raw honey does. It's still perfectly good. Sit the jar in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 20 minutes and it'll loosen up again. Some people prefer it crystallised on toast. We don't judge.

Is it organic?

Not certified organic, because bees fly anywhere they like and we can't fence off three kilometres of coastline. But we don't treat the hives with synthetic chemicals, and the land they forage is largely paddock, scrub and reserve. We've never wanted to overclaim.

Can babies eat it?

No. Children under 12 months should not eat any honey — raw or processed — because of the risk of infant botulism. For everyone else, no caveats.

Do you ship?

Yes, within Australia. Get in touch with what you'd like and a postcode and we'll send a price. We pack it to survive transit.

Where can I buy it locally?

We sell direct from the property in Kilcunda, and we drop stock to a handful of small grocers and cafés around the Bass Coast. Message us for the current list — it changes with the season.

Do you do wholesale?

In small quantities, yes. We're a tiny operation, so we say no more often than we say yes — but if you run a café, restaurant or shop in the area, please get in touch.

Get in touch

Drop us a line.
We'll write back.

Want a jar, want to stock us, want to know what's blooming this week — whatever it is, send a note. We're a small outfit so it's a real person on the other end.

Find us

Kilcunda, Victoria 3995
Bass Coast, Wurundjeri & Bunurong Country

Email

hello@killybees.com.au

Instagram

@killy.bees