Beehive

Bee nests are naturally generated blocks that house one to three bees.

Beehives are crafted versions of bee nests. Beehives can house up to 3 bees at a time. Bees fly into the nest at night, during rain, and after pollinating. Igniting a beehive causes all bees inside to escape from it.

Bees that live in nests or hives emerge and go looking for flowers. After collecting pollen at the flowers, the bees return home and go inside to turn the pollen into honey. When done, the bees emerge again to look for more flowers. Over time the honey collects until the bee nest or beehive is full and can then be harvested by the player in various forms. Bees can enter and exit a nest or hive through any of the six sides of the block, including the bottom. Placing a solid block on each surface of the hive or nest will prevent bees from entering or exiting the hive or nest. Fence posts, glass panes and trap doors will not block the surface and therefore will not contain the bees.

It is worth noting that the pollen particles that fall from bees can cause crops to advance growth stages similar to using bone meal. Thus, it can be beneficial to build beehives near crops to allow the bees to help them grow faster, though this does not improve the bees' efficiency in making honey.

Just crafting a beehive, and placing it afterwards, does not automatically create bees. The player may need to attract bees to the hive with flowers in the hand, or bringing them there on a lead.

Natural generation


Naturally generated bee nests generate with 3 bees in them.

Bee nests generate in the following biomes with different chances:

Bee nests are most commonly found in the Flower Forest biome because of its high tree and flower density.

Saplings
Oak and birch trees grown from saplings that are within 2 blocks of any flower have 2% chance to grow with a bee nest with 1-3 bees in it.

Breaking


Beehives and bee nests have different behavior on breaking. Both can be mined by any tool or by the player's fist, though they break faster with an axe.

If a bee nest is broken with a tool not enchanted with Silk Touch, it drops nothing and any bees inside emerge angry at the player. If a Silk Touch tool is used, the bee nest drops itself and any bees inside remain inside.

If a beehive is broken with a tool not enchanted with Silk Touch, it drops itself, but any bees inside emerge angry at the player. If a Silk Touch tool is used, the beehive drops itself and any bees inside remain inside.

Harvesting


Pollinated bees fly into beehives and start working for a while. When done, they exit the hive, increasing the honey level by 1. When the honey level has reached 5, the block's appearance changes, indicating that it is full of honey, and produces dripping honey particles if suspended above the ground. If shears are on a full beehive, it drops three honeycombs. Unlike with shearing pumpkins, these honeycomb items are generated directly in the center of the block, causing them to spray everywhere; however this inconsistency is intended. If an empty glass bottle is used on a full beehive, the bottle fills with honey, becoming a honey bottle. Harvesting honey or honeycomb causes any bees inside the hive to become aggravated toward the player. If there is a lit campfire; or fire directly underneath the hive (campfire within five blocks underneath, without obstruction), harvesting the hive does not aggravate the bees inside. Using a dispenser with a or  via redstone to harvest the hive or nest also prevents the bees from attacking the player.

$$, the campfire can be placed below ground level with a carpet on top of it to prevent bees from taking damage from the campfire. The carpet does not block the smoke, so the player can harvest the honey without angering the bees.

Redstone component
Beehives and bee nests have comparator output with a strength equal to the honey level in the block. Once the beehive or bee nest is filled with honey it emits a signal strength of five.

Sounds




ID




Block entity
A beehive has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Trivia

 * The terminology of a beehive being a man-made enclosure for bees is correct, as opposed to a naturally occurring bee nest.