Bees are insects that can produce honey. They are also essential in the pollinating process of most fruit trees (including apple-, orange-, and lemon- trees) required so they can grow Fruits back.
Wild Bees can be found in the swamp biome in a wild hive upon the branch of a Bald Cypress Tree. Wild hives are harmless unless the tree they occupy is disturbed by a player interaction with a long straight shaft. Once disturbed, they will form a swarm which can sting and poison the player upon contact, having the same effect as mosquitos. A bee sting makes you look sick, reduces your maximum food bar, and makes you unable to interact with anything for 35 seconds. The swarm may also return to their hive if it isn't taken away from the tree.
A swarm of angry bees moves 1 tile per move (up to 5 over items) and can move 20 times before despawning, making the maximum distance they can go 20 tiles in any direction, but it should be noted that their move count is refreshed if they sting a player or land on a Bald Cypress Tree with Fallen Hive.
Domestication[]
Bees can be easily domesticated by a player using bee combs obtained from wild hive to make artificial hives.
To obtain a wild hive first stand anywhere in a cardinal direction around a tree with a hive, then, to prevent the bees from harming you, place an item on the the tile you are standing (at best something else then the long shaft you will use) then hit the hive with a long shaft. Quickly pick the hive from the tree and drop it on a ground tile near you. When the hive is hit off the tree a swarm of bees will come out of it, so wait on top of the item you previously placed until the swarm disbands. Use a sharp stone on the fallen hive on the ground to obtain a bee comb. You can then use the bee comb to make a Beebox by adding it into a crate. To use the Beeboxes you need to place them on a Beehive Stand which is made by hitting boards with a smithing hammer. A beehive can have from 1 up to 4 bee boxes each increasing the Honey storage.
Honeybee[]
A Honeybee can be considered the domestic form of bees. Once a beehive is established, a honeybee will spawn every 10 minutes to obtain nectar from surrounding Flowering Milkweed, Flowers, and Fruit Trees. When the honeybee has nectar, its body will turn red and it will try to find its way into any beehive in order to create honey.
Honeybees follow a random movement pattern moving 1 tile per move and up to 5 over items. A honeybee on a beehive is required to first land on an empty tile before proceeding to pollination.
Set-Up examples[]
On the right is both an orchard (note that the mango trees are just decoration and the cistern and soil are for the mango trees) and a honey farm. As you can see, one of the main requirements is a fence surrounding the farm, the other is that everything should be in one biome as bees can't cross biomes.
Notes[]
- Bees are biome-bound, which means they can't cross from one biome to another. You can use this mechanic to make free-range bee farm.
- A bee needs an empty tile next to the beehive to leave it.
- If you build a beehive on a single tile biome, it will become a undestructable object as the spawned bee can't leave.
- You can look up honey and beehive inspirations on Discord.