Beehive

Bee nests and beehives are blocks that house bees, with bee nests being natural and beehives crafted. They fill with honey as bees pollinate flowers and return to their homes and, when full, can either be sheared for honeycombs or honey bottles extracted using glass bottles.

Natural generation


Naturally generated bee nests generate with 3 bees in them. The bee nests always face south.

Bee nests generate in the following biomes with different chances:

Breaking
Beehives and bee nests can be broken 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 destroyed with a Silk Touch tool, bees will not become angry.

If broken in Creative mode with bees inside, the beehive or nest drops itself and bees inside remain inside.

Crafting
Beehives can be crafted in a crafting table. Bee nests occur naturally and cannot be crafted.

Post-generation
Oak, birch, or mangrove trees grown from saplings that are within 2 blocks (including diagonally) of a flower on the same y-level have a 5% chance to grow with a bee nest containing 1–3 bees. This holds true in any biome in any dimension, and for any flower including wither roses and flowering azaleas.

Bee housing
Bee nests and beehives can house up to 3 bees at a time. They can enter through any unobstructed side, top, or bottom, but can exit only from the front, and only if it's unobstructed by a solid block (including a non-full solid block $$).

Bees fly into a nest or hive at night, during rain, and after loading up with pollen from a flower. They first look for one at the same coordinates as the last one they entered, but if there's no nest or hive there or it already contains 3 bees when they arrive, they search the nearby area for another one.

Igniting a nest or hive allows any bees inside to escape, possibly catching fire as they flee.

Harvesting


Once full, bee nests and beehives provide two harvestable products: honey and honeycomb.

Each time a bee enters a nest or hive covered in pollen, it starts converting it to honey and honeycomb. After it's done, it waits for daylight with no rain (if necessary), then exits to go collect more pollen. When the bee exits, the hive increments its honey level by 1, to a maximum of 5. Once it's full, it changes its appearance to show honey oozing out and, if the block below it isn't a full solid block, starts dripping honey particles. (The dripping honey is decorative; it cannot be collected in a cauldron.) These changes signal that the hive or nest is ready for harvesting.

To harvest honey, the player a glass bottle on the nest or hive; the bottle then becomes a honey bottle. To harvest honeycomb, the player shears on the nest or hive, causing it to drop three honeycomb items. After harvesting, the hive or nest is reset to empty (honey level 0, with the default appearance).

Alternatively, honey or honeycomb can be harvested by powering a redstone dispenser containing either a or. The dispenser must be placed beside and facing the hive or nest.

Harvesting from a beehive or bee nest causes any bees inside it to become aggravated toward the player, unless there is a fire directly beneath it or a lit campfire within five blocks below, and the smoke is not obstructed. Smoke can pass through no more than one solid block, and only if that block is directly above the campfire. Placing a carpet above the campfire leaves room for the bees to hover beneath the nest and still avoid taking fire damage. In Java Edition, the smoke coming through the carpet also calms the bees. In Bedrock Edition, a carpet is treated as an obstruction that removes the calming effect of the campfire's smoke. Without a block covering the fire, the bees can still avoid fire damage if the campfire is placed 4–5 blocks below the nest.

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.

Note Blocks
Beehives and bee nests can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass" sound.

Fuel
$$, beehives and bee nests can be used as fuel in a furnace, smelting 1.5 items per block.

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Unique




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




 * See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.
 * See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.