Beehive

Bee Nest/Beehive
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64) without bees inside No with bee(s) inside
Tool
Blast resistance	Bee nest: 0.3 Beehive: 0.6
Hardness	Bee nest: 0.3 Beehive: 0.6
Luminous	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	Beehive: Yes (5) Bee Nest: Yes (30)
Catches fire from lava	Yes

Bee nests and beehives are blocks that house bees. Bee nests are found naturally, and beehives are 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.

Obtaining

Natural generation

A naturally generated bee nest in a Superflat village.

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:

Biome	Chance
	JE	BE
Meadow	100%
Cherry Grove	5%	N/A
Plains Sunflower plains	5%
Mangrove Swamp	5%	4%
Flower forest	2%	3%
Forest Birch forest Old growth birch forest	0.2%	0.035%

Breaking

See also: Tutorials/Honey farming § Avoiding Bee Anger

Beehives and bee nests can be broken using any tool or by the player's fist, though they break faster with an axe.

If a bee nest or beehive is broken using 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 or beehive drops itself and any bees inside remain inside. The bees will not become angry when the block is placed.

If a bee nest or beehive is destroyed with a campfire under it and without a Silk Touch tool, they will emerge angry at the player.

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

Block	Bee Nest	Beehive
Hardness	0.3	0.6
Tool
Breaking time
Default	0.45	0.9
Wooden	0.25	0.45
Stone	0.15	0.25
Iron	0.1	0.15
Diamond	0.1	0.15
Netherite	0.05	0.1
Golden	0.05	0.1

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Any Planks + Honeycomb

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.

Usage

Bee housing

Dripping honey.

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 is unobstructed by a solid block (including a non-full solid block in Bedrock Edition).

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 is 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

See also: Tutorials/Honey farming

Bees are protected from a campfire by placing a carpet over it.‌

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 is done, it waits for daylight with no rain (if necessary), then exits to go collect more pollen. When the bee exits, the nest or hive increments its honey level by 1, to a maximum of 5. Once it is full, it changes its appearance to show honey oozing out and, if the block below it is not 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 uses a glass bottle on the nest or hive; the bottle then becomes a honey bottle. To harvest honeycomb, the player uses 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 glass bottle or shears. The dispenser must be placed beside and facing the hive or nest.

This is the maximum distance a beehive can be from a campfire while applying the calming effect (5 blocks).

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 sounds.

Fuel

In Bedrock Edition, beehives and bee nests can be used as fuel in a furnace, smelting 1.5 items per block.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.wood.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	1.0	0.8	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.wood.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	1.0	0.8	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.wood.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.25	0.5	16
	None	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.wood.fall	None	0.5	0.75	16
	Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.wood.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.stone	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	0.27	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.stone	0.3	1.0
	Players	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	0.12	1.0
	Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	0.22	1.0

Unique

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Honey drips	Blocks	When a honey drip particle hits a block	block.beehive.drip	subtitles.block.beehive.drip	0.09-0.3	varies	8
	Bee enters hive	Blocks	When a bee enters a beehive	block.beehive.enter	subtitles.block.beehive.enter	1.0	0.7/0.8	14
	Bee leaves hive	Blocks	When a bee exits a beehive	block.beehive.exit	subtitles.block.beehive.exit	1.0	0.9/1.0/1.1	14
	Shears scrape	Blocks	When honeycombs are harvested from a beehive	block.beehive.shear	subtitles.block.beehive.shear	0.8	1.0/0.8/0.9	16
	Bees work	Blocks	Randomly while a bee is inside	block.beehive.work	subtitles.block.beehive.work	0.6	1.0	12
	Bottle fills	Blocks	When a bottle is filled with honey	item.bottle.fill	subtitles.item.bottle.fill	1.0	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	When a honey drip particle hits a block	block.beehive.drip	0.3	0.7-0.9
	Blocks	When a bee enters a beehive	block.beehive.enter	0.75	0.7-0.8
	Blocks	When a bee exits a beehive	block.beehive.exit	0.75	0.9-1.1
	Blocks	When honeycombs are collected from a beehive	block.beehive.shear	0.8	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	Randomly while a bee is inside	block.beehive.work	0.6	1.0
	Blocks	When a bottle is filled with honey	bucket.fill_water	1.0	1.0

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Bee Nest	bee_nest	Block & Item	beehives	block.minecraft.bee_nest
Beehive	beehive	Block & Item	beehives	block.minecraft.beehive

Name	Identifier
Block entity	beehive

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID	Translation key
Bee Nest	bee_nest	473	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.bee_nest.name
Beehive	beehive	474	Block & Giveable Item	Identical	tile.beehive.name

Name	Savegame ID
Block entity	Beehive

Block states

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
facing	north	east north south west	The opposite from the direction the player faces while placing the block.
honey_level	0	0 1 2 3 4 5	Every pollinated bee that leaves the hive after working increases the honey level by one. When at level 5, honey can be bottled or honeycombs can be harvested.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
direction	Not Supported	0	0 1 2 3	Unsupported	The direction the block faces. 0: south 1: west 2: north 3: east
honey_level	Not Supported	0	0 1 2 3 4 5	Unsupported	Every pollinated bee that leaves the hive after working increases the honey level by one. When at level 5, honey can be bottled or honeycombs can be harvested.

Block data

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

Java Edition:

See also: Block entity format

• Block entity data
  • Tags common to all block entities
  •  Bees: Entities currently in the hive.
    • An entity in the hive.
      •  EntityData: The NBT data of the entity in the hive.
        • See entity format.
      •  MinOccupationTicks: The minimum amount of time in ticks for this entity to stay in the hive.
      •  TicksInHive: The amount of ticks the entity has stayed in the hive.
  •  FlowerPos: Stores the location of a flower, so other bees can go to it.
    •  X: X coordinate of the flower.
    •  Y: Y coordinate of the flower.
    •  Z: Z coordinate of the flower.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Parent	Actual requirements (if different)	Resource location
	Bee Our Guest	Use a Campfire to collect Honey from a Beehive using a Glass Bottle without aggravating the Bees	Husbandry	Use a glass bottle on a beehive or bee nest while not angering the bees inside.	husbandry/safely_harvest_honey
	Total Beelocation	Move a Bee Nest, with 3 Bees inside, using Silk Touch	Husbandry	—	husbandry/silk_touch_nest

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other
		Bee our guest	Use a Campfire to collect Honey from a Beehive using a Bottle without aggravating the bees.	—	15G	Bronze
		Total Beelocation	Move and place a Bee Nest, with 3 bees inside, using Silk Touch.	—	30G	Silver

History

|Bee nests now have a 2% chance to spawn in flower forests. |Bee nests now have a 0.2% chance to spawn in forest, wooded hills, birch forest, tall birch forest, birch forest hills, and tall birch hills biomes.}}

Java Edition
1.15		19w34a			Added bee nests.
					Added bee hives.
		19w35a			Oak and birch trees generated from saplings can no longer have bee nests.
					Bee nests now cannot generate unless there is air in front of the front side of the nest.
					Bee hives and bee nests are now flammable.
		19w36a			The top and bottom texture for filled bee hives are now missing.
		19w37a			The top and bottom texture for filled bee hives are now fixed.
		19w41a			"Bee hive" has been renamed to "Beehive."
		19w42a			"Bee nest" has been renamed to "Bee Nest."
		19w46a			Bees now exit hives only from the front.
					Hives no longer drop in Creative mode, unless they contain bees.
1.15.2		Pre-Release 1			Oak and birch saplings grown within 2 blocks of a flower on the same y-level have a 5% chance to have a bee nest, making bee nests a renewable resource.
1.16		20w06a			Crimson planks and warped planks can now be used to craft beehives.
		20w13a			Bee nests now appear yellow on maps.
1.18		experimental snapshot 2			Bee nests now have a high chance to spawn in mountain meadows.
		21w39a			Bee nests now have a 100% chance to spawn in meadows.
1.19		22w11a			Mangrove planks can now be used to craft beehives.
		22w14a			Bee nests now have a 5% chance to spawn in mangrove trees as well as inside mangrove swamps.
1.20 (Experimental)		23w07a			Bee nests now have a 5% chance to spawn in cherry trees as well as inside cherry groves.
					Cherry planks can now be used to craft beehives.
Bedrock Edition
1.14.0		beta 1.14.0.1			Added bee nests.
					Added beehives.
		beta 1.14.0.3			"Bee nest" has been renamed to "Bee Nest."
1.16.0		beta 1.15.0.51			Oak and birch saplings grown within 2 blocks of a flower on the same y-level now have a 5% chance to have a bee nest.
		beta 1.16.0.57			Bee nests now have a 3% chance to generate in flower forest.
					Bee nests now have a 5% chance to generate in plains and sunflower plains.
					Bee nests now have a 0.035% chance to generate in forest, wooded hills, birch forest, tall birch forest, birch forest hills, and tall birch hills biomes.
1.16.100		beta 1.16.100.54			Now appear yellow on maps.
1.18.30		beta 1.18.20.27			Breaking a nest or hive with Silk Touch no longer angers bees.
1.19		beta 1.19.0.20			Bee nests now have a chance to spawn in mangrove trees as well as inside mangrove swamps.

Issues

Issues relating to "Beehive" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

See also

• Tutorials/Honey farming

Gallery

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Screenshots

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  Artwork of Alex gathering honey from a beehive.

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  Artwork of several bees near a bee nest.

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  An oak tree with a bee nest.

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  A bee flying next to a bee nest.

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  3 bee hives generated close to each other.

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  2 beehives found close together, found in birch forest.