Premium honey bee feed for Australian conditions
At Custom Bee Feed, we offer high-quality honey bee feed specifically tailored for the Australian climate. Made in Australia by Australian beekeepers, our product provides essential nutrients to ensure your bees remain healthy and productive. Whether managing a backyard hive or a large-scale apiary, our feed is designed to promote a thriving hive, even in harsh conditions.
Our honey bee food supplement consists of a unique blend of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that cater to the specific nutritional needs of Australian honey bees. Originally developed as a full pollen replacement, it has proven to work exceptionally well as a supplement to natural pollen. Since much of Australia’s flora is deficient in key nutrients, supplementary feeding allows bees to make the most of natural pollen when it’s available, while maintaining a strong brood nest when it isn’t.
This unique balance of crude protein, vitamins, and essential amino acids has shown far superior results compared to feeding straight pollen alone. Custom Bee Feed gives your bees the nutritional boost they need for consistent health and productivity, regardless of seasonal challenges. Don’t just take our word for it, try it for yourself!
When to feed
Did you know that no native Australian eucalypt tree contains 100% of the amino acids a honey bee needs? As a result, European honey bees can be naturally deficient in critical nutrients. This is where Custom Bee Feed comes in. It has been formulated specifically to meet the demands of bee feed for Australian conditions.
If your bees are foraging in a monofloral environment, or if you’re experiencing drought conditions, supplementary feeding becomes crucial. In these times, trees often produce pollen of lower quality, and Custom Bee Feed helps maintain the health of your colonies. You can also identify when bees need supplementation by checking the brood nest – if it starts to shrink, your bees may lack essential nutrients. By feeding in autumn, you can ensure your bees enter winter with the amino acids required for breeding healthy, long-living bees.
For maximum honey yields, it’s commercially viable to feed Custom Bee Feed before and during the honey flow, particularly in pollen-deficient conditions.
How to feed
There are several practical ways to feed Custom Bee Feed, depending on the size of your operation:
- Open feeding: Hang bags or buckets near your hives and poke holes at the bottom so bees can access the feed. This method allows bees to collect what they need based on the current availability of natural pollen.
- In-hive feeding: For hobbyists, pouring Custom Bee Feed onto the excluder along the back of the hive is a popular method. The feed should be piled on the excluder so that the bees can access it easily.
- Mixing with sugar water: For those who prefer making patties, Custom Bee Feed can be mixed with sugar water and placed inside the hive.
The recommended feed rate is 1kg of Custom Bee Feed every 3 weeks for a strong hive in a pollen-free environment. You may need to adjust this for smaller hives or when natural pollen is available. Contact us for more information.