Bee

For other uses, see Bee (disambiguation).

Bee

Adult in Java Edition

Adult in Bedrock Edition

Baby in Java Edition

Baby in Bedrock Edition

Adult in Java Edition

Adult in Bedrock Edition

Baby in Java Edition

Baby in Bedrock Edition

Adult in Java Edition

Adult in Bedrock Edition

Baby in Java Edition

Baby in Bedrock Edition

Adult in Java Edition

Adult in Bedrock Edition

Baby in Java Edition

Baby in Bedrock Edition

Health points	10HP
Behavior	Neutral
Mob type	Animal Arthropod
Attack strength	Melee: Easy: 2HP Normal: 2HP Hard: 3HP Venom: Normal: Poison I for 10 sec (HP) Hard: Poison I for 18 sec (HP × 7)
Hitbox size	Adult: Height: 0.5 blocks Width: 0.55 blocks Baby: Height: 0.25 blocks Width: 0.275 blocks
Speed	0.6
Spawn	Naturally generated Bee Nests
Usable items	Flower (except closed eyeblossom) Mangrove Propagule Flowering Azalea Flowering Azalea Leaves Cherry Leaves Pink Petals Wildflowers Spore Blossom Cactus Flower Chorus Flower Lead Golden Dandelion (baby only)

A bee is a flying arthropodan neutral mob that lives in a bee nest or beehive, and fills it with harvestable honey using nectar it gathers from flowers. Attacking a bee, or interfering with its home without proper precautions, causes it and all nearby bees to attack using their stingers. If a bee attacks something, it will lose its stinger and eventually die.

Spawning

Bees are the only arthropod mob that can spawn in any difficulty including Peaceful.

Natural generation

Naturally generated bee nests generate with 2-3 bees in them.

Naturally-generated birch, oak, mangrove, and cherry trees have equal chances to generate with a bee nest, depending on the biome:

Biome	Chance
	JE	BE
Meadow	100%
Plains Sunflower Plains Cherry Grove	5%
Mangrove Swamp	5%	4%
Flower Forest	2%	3%
Forest Birch Forest Old Growth Birch Forest	0.2%	0.035%

Saplings

Birch, cherry, and oak trees grown from saplings that are within 2 blocks of any 1- or 2-block tall flowers, flowering azalea, cherry leaves, flowering azalea leaves, mangrove propagule, spore blossom, pink petals, or chorus flower have a 5% chance of having a bee nest containing 2–3 bees.

Mangroves grown from mangrove propagules have a 1% chance of having a bee nest containing 2-3 bees. Unlike birch, cherry and oak trees, no flowers are required for a bee nest to generate.^[1]

Drops

On death

Upon death, adult bees drop 1–3XP experience when killed by a player or a tamed wolf. Like most other baby animals, killing a baby bee yields no experience.

Breeding

When two bees breed and produce an offspring, 1–7XP is dropped.

Behavior

Bees do not fly (like ghasts or the ender dragon), but instead hover a few blocks above the ground similar to bats and parrots.

Bees are considered arthropods and take increased damage from the Bane of Arthropods enchantment.^[2] They also take 1HP damage every half second if they stay in water for more than 20 game ticks (1 second).^[3] Bees do not take damage from sweet berry bushes.

Bees can be attached to a lead, even when angered. They can still attack while attached. A lead that attaches any other entity to a bee breaks when the bee enters its hive.

Bees usually venture up to 22 blocks from their beehive to collect nectar from a viable plant or to attack someone. Bees can venture farther away if necessary.

A bee can fly horizontally and vertically upward through scaffolding but does not fly downward. A bee does not fly through an open trapdoor or regular door on its own (a bee can be led through a door with a flower) but babies can fly through the gap above a fence gate in a 1×2 doorway.

Despite being flying mobs, bees can destroy turtle eggs when on top of them.^[4]

Pollinating

Bees leave their nest during the day. They fly around their nests and are attracted to flowers (except closed eyeblossoms), flowering azaleas, flowering azalea leaves, mangrove propagules, pink petals, cherry leaves, spore blossoms, chorus flowers, cactus flowers, and wildflowers, which are the valid plants for the bee to gather nectar from. Bees can gather nectar from wither roses but receive the wither effect. As a result, they can die.^[5] Bees can also gather nectar from open eyeblossoms, but get poisoned as a result; they completely ignore golden dandelions and closed eyeblossoms, and are unable to gather nectar from them. Bees also completely ignore flowers in flower pots.^[6][7]

After circling a flower for more than 400 game ticks (20 seconds), a bee collects nectar. However, if the bee gets damaged, it ceases its efforts to collect nectar. A bee carrying nectar has nectar spots on its abdomen and drops nectar particles to fertilize plants below the bee.

Bees that have nectar may pollinate pitcher crops‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}, wheat crops, potato crops, carrot crops, beetroot crops, melon stems, sweet berry bushes, pumpkin stems, cave vines, and torchflower crops that they fly over. When one of these plants gets pollinated, it advances to another growth stage, similar to using bone meal. To pollinate a plant, a bee must be 1 to 2 blocks directly above the plant and must have a valid home hive. A bee can fertilize plants 10 times each time they have nectar. There is an approximately 5% chance each tick to attempt fertilization.

Afterward, the bee flies back into its hive/nest to make honey. It takes about 2 minutes for the bee to do this.

Housing

Bees live together in colonies and take any bee nest or beehive that has enough space as its home. One bee nest/beehive can house up to 3 bees. Homeless bees search for empty beehives by wandering around generally in a northwest direction. Bees can enter a beehive from any side, but exit only from the front. One-way bee-gates can be made by using this mechanic.

Bees return to their nest when it rains and during the night. This behavior extends to biomes that don't rain, such as the desert. They stay in their nest or hive for at least 2400 game ticks (2 minutes) before coming back out. Bees in a nest/hive retain their data (health, name, etc.).

Breaking a nest or hive without Silk Touch drops nothing or an empty hive respectively, releasing all bees contained inside. If the nest or hive is harvested using a tool enchanted with Silk Touch, the bees are contained in the dropped item and can exit the nest/hive when it is placed again.

When a bee that has nectar enters and then leaves its nest or hive, the honey level of the nest/hive is increased by one; there is a 1% chance it is increased by two. When the honey level of that hive reaches 5, the player can harvest honeycombs or honey bottles using shears and empty bottles respectively. The honey level resets back to 0 when a honeycomb or honey bottle is harvested.

Because there is neither daylight cycle nor weather in the Nether and the End, bees work without resting in these dimensions. This behavior is distinct from that of the villagers, which follow their daily routine according to the time in the Overworld, regardless of which dimension they are in.

Attacking

All bees nearby are angered when an individual bee is attacked (unless the bee attacked is killed in one hit), honey or honeycombs are collected (unless a campfire is placed under the nest), or a bee nest/beehive is destroyed. Even destroying newly-placed uninhabited beehives anger nearby bees. Hitting or walking on a beehive does not anger bees; only destroying it angers them. When destroyed, a beehive releases any bees that it contained. If the beehive is destroyed with a Silk Touch tool, bees kept within the hive remain neutral, while those outside the hive also remain neutral.

Bees attack and swarm the player as a group when angered, and the eyes of angered bees turn red. Collecting a honeycomb or a honey bottle from a nest or hive causes the bees that are currently in that nest or hive to leave and swarm the player unless a campfire is placed within five blocks below the hive. Bees attack only once, similar to llamas, and non-aggressive pandas.

Bees do not deal any damage in Peaceful difficulty and are completely passive. They fly outside the beehive and search for flowers as usual.

If the player deflects a bee's attack with a shield, the bee continues attacking until it succeeds in hitting the player.

When a bee's attack on a player succeeds, the player is poisoned. A bee loses its stinger after a successful attack, cannot attack further and does not retreat to its nest (even at night), and dies approximately one minute later. This can be delayed with potion effects (Regeneration/Resistance/Absorption) that have a 255 potency.

It is possible to (quickly) breed at least one angered bee with another, even if it or they had stung and lost the stinger. However, they remain angered and still die later due to being stingerless.

Bees also swarm and attack other mobs when damaged, for example, if a skeleton accidentally shoots a bee, the bee will sting a player.

Bees become neutral if they fail to land a hit on their target until anger counter runs out. Anger duration is randomly selected between 20 and 39 seconds, inclusive.

• 
  The stinging animation; the bee can remain upside down for longer periods of time if a distance is kept.
• 
  Prior to stinging
• 
  After stinging

In Java Edition, a bee's stinger is visible on the player as a small black dot after the bee successfully attacked.

Breeding

Bees follow players holding any 1- or 2-block tall flowers (except closed eyeblossoms and golden dandelions), mangrove propagules, flowering azaleas, flowering azalea leaves, cherry leaves, pink petals, wildflowers, spore blossoms, cactus flowers or chorus flowers. If the player is standing still and being followed by bees, the bees go toward the player, face the player, and rest on the ground. They do this until the player moves.

If bees are given any of the blocks listed above (except open eyeblossom and wither rose), they enter love mode and pair up to create baby bees, granting the player 1-7 experience. The parent bees have a cooldown of 5 minutes (6000 game ticks) before they can be bred again. Babies take 20 minutes (1 in-game day) to grow up. The growth of baby bees can be accelerated by feeding them flower types (except those that cannot cause love mode); each use reduces the remaining time by 10%. However, bees' growth timer and breeding cooldowns are frozen while working in a hive; thus, when rapidly growing a population, it may be desirable to temporarily remove the hives.

Wither roses and open eyeblossoms cannot be used for breeding bees or growing baby bees. Feeding a bee a wither rose inflicts it with the Wither effect for 2 seconds (40 game ticks), while feeding a bee an open eyeblossom inflicts it with Poison for 1.25 seconds (25 game ticks). Closed eyeblossoms and golden dandelions cannot be used to lead, breed or grow bees; in the latter case, feeding them to baby bees instead toggles age-locking as with other baby mobs.

Sounds

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	Translation key
Bee	bee	arthropod beehive_inhabitors fall_damage_immune followable_friendly_mobs sensitive_to_bane_of_arthropods	entity.minecraft.bee

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Family	Translation key
Bee	bee	122	arthropod bee mob pacified	entity.bee.name

Entity data

Bees have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Bee our guest	Use a Campfire to collect Honey from a Beehive using a Bottle without aggravating the bees.	—	15	Bronze
		Total Beelocation	Move and place a Bee Nest, with 3 bees inside, using Silk Touch.	—	30	Silver
		It Spreads	Kill a mob next to a catalyst	Kill any mob that drops experience near a sculk catalyst, with the sole exception of the ender dragon. Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this achievement.	10	Bronze

Achievements that apply to all mobs:

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Overkill	Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit.	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall.	30	Bronze
		Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have 50 hearts of health overall.	20	Silver
		Mob Kabob	Hit five mobs in the same Charge attack using the Spear	Armor stands and players also count for this achievement as they are technically mobs.	10	Bronze

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	A Furious Cocktail	Have every potion effect applied at the same time	Have all of these 17​[until: Fourth Drop 2026]/18​[upcoming] status effects applied to the player at the same time: Fire Resistance Freezing Infested Invisibility Jump Boost Night Vision Oozing Poison Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Water Breathing Weakness Weaving Wind Charged The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects may be applied to the player, but are ignored for this advancement.
	How Did We Get Here?	Have every effect applied at the same time	Have all of these 34​[until: Fourth Drop 2026]/35​[upcoming] status effects applied to the player at the same time: Absorption Bad Omen Blindness Breath of the Nautilus Conduit Power Darkness Dolphin's Grace Fire Resistance Freezing Glowing Haste Hero of the Village Hunger Infested Invisibility Jump Boost Levitation Mining Fatigue Nausea Night Vision Oozing Poison Raid Omen Regeneration Resistance Slow Falling Slowness Speed Strength Trial Omen Water Breathing Weakness Weaving Wind Charged Wither The source of the effects is irrelevant for the purposes of this advancement. Other status effects may be applied to the player, but are ignored for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Kill any mob that drops experience near a sculk catalyst, with the sole exception of the ender dragon. Mobs that drop no experience are ignored for this advancement.
	Bee Our Guest	Use a Campfire to collect Honey from a Beehive using a Glass Bottle without aggravating the Bees	Use a glass bottle on a beehive or bee nest while not angering the bees inside.
	The Parrots and the Bats	Breed two animals together	Breed a pair of any of these 27 animals: Armadillo Axolotl Bee Camel Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Frog Goat Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Nautilus Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Sniffer Strider Trader Llama Turtle Wolf A mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs are ignored for this advancement.
	Total Beelocation	Move a Bee Nest or Beehive, with 3 Bees inside, using Silk Touch	Break a bee nest, with 3 bees inside, using Silk Touch. Contrary to the in-game description, a beehive cannot trigger the advancement.
	Two by Two	Breed all the animals!	Breed a pair of each of these 26 animals: Armadillo Axolotl Bee Camel Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Frog Goat Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Nautilus Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Sniffer Strider Turtle Wolf A trader llama does not count as a llama, and a mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs can be bred, but are ignored for this advancement.

Advancements that apply to all mobs:

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	A Throwaway Joke	Throw a Trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.
	Mob Kabob	Hit five mobs in the same Charge attack using the Spear	Armor Stand and Mannequin also count for this advancement.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand and Mannequin also count for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have 50 hearts of health overall.

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.15			19w34a				Added bees and baby bees.
			19w35a				Bees now try to avoid water.
							Bee nests now spawn less frequently, making bees rarer.
							Breeding bees now counts toward the "Two by Two" advancement.
			19w36a				Bees are now affected by the Bane of Arthropods enchantment.
							Bees are now able to gather pollen from lilac, rose bush, and peony flowers.
							The textures of bees have been tweaked. The gradation part for picking up the color has been removed and the translucent pixels are now fully transparent.[8]
							bee_angry_nectar now has same nectar pattern as bee_nectar, which has changed the textures from to .[9]
							Bees no longer stop flying after reaching the player they are following.
			19w45a				Bees now search up to 10 blocks away from itself in all directions to find a nest/hive to claim.
			19w46a				Bees now exit beehives only from the front.
1.15.2			pre1				Bees no longer anger when a nearby nest/hive is destroyed using a Silk Touch tool.
							Bees now remember how many crops they have pollinated.
							Bees no longer stay in the hive/nest forever after riding a minecart or boat.
1.16			20w10a				Firework damage now provokes bees.[10]
			20w12a				The maximum distance a bee can wander away from its home hive when randomly wandering has been reduced to around 22 blocks.
1.17			21w13a				Bees now see flowering azalea and flowering azalea leaves as flowers.
1.19			22w11a				Bees now see mangrove propagule as flowers.[11]
1.19.4 Experiment Update 1.20			pre1				Bees now see cherry leaves, pink petals, and torchflowers as flowers.[12]
1.20.2			23w33a				Bees now see spore blossom and chorus flower as flowers.[13]
1.20.5			24w11a				Adjusted their flying behavior to keep them from overshooting their position when flying up and down.
1.21.2			24w33a				Bees now wander around randomly for less time after exiting a nest/hive.
							If a bee has a known nest/hive, it travels less far from it, thus being less likely to get lost.
							Significantly increased the amount of time a bee can take to return to a known nest/hive before it gives up trying to return home.
							Bees are now a lot less likely to get stuck on corners or when they are close to a nest/hive they are trying to return to.
							Bees are also now a lot less likely to try and pathfind to a flower they cannot reach.
1.21.4			24w44a				Bees now get the Wither effect when fed with wither roses, and the Poison effect when fed with eyeblossoms.
			24w45a				Bees are no longer attracted to closed eyeblossoms.
							Bees can no longer interact with closed eyeblossoms.
			24w46a				Bees no longer get poisoned when they touch a closed eyeblossom.
							Leashed bees no longer enter beehives or bee nests.
1.21.5			25w02a				Are now attracted to, and can be bred using wildflowers.
			25w06a				Are now attracted to, and can be bred using cactus flowers.
1.21.9			25w34a				Bees no longer hide in their hive in the End when it is raining in the Overworld.
26.1			snap5				Added golden dandelions, which can be used to prevent baby bees from growing up.
			snap6				The model and textures of baby bees have been changed.
26.2			snap5				Hitbox sizes of both baby and adult bees updated to match Bedrock.

Bedrock Edition

Bedrock Edition
1.14.0			beta 1.14.0.1				Added bees.
							Bees and baby bees can become angry and attack the player.
							Bees and baby bees can gather nectar from flowers, and show the nectar on them after doing so.
							Bees and baby bees that have nectar can become angry and attack the player.
1.16.0			beta 1.16.0.63				Bees no longer fly faster when swarming a player or mob.
1.17.0			beta 1.16.230.50				Bees are now attracted to flowering azalea and flowering azalea leaves.
			beta 1.17.0.56				Bees no longer gather nectar from sweet berry bushes.
1.20.60			Preview 1.20.60.25				Bees no longer take damage when moving through sweet berry bushes.
1.21.50			Preview 1.21.50.28				Bees now get the Wither effect when fed with wither roses.
							Bees can no longer be tempted or collect nectar from closed eyeblossoms.
							Feeding bees open eyeblossoms now applies the poison effect.
26.10			Preview 26.10.21				The model and textures of baby bees have been changed.
							Added golden dandelions, which can be used to prevent baby bees from growing up.

Data history

Issues

Issues relating to "Bee" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

• Bees were made to be half a block in size because Mojang considered this size to be the cutest.^[14]
• In Java Edition, bees pollinate only the top half of sunflowers.
• In reality, juvenile bees are helpless, worm-like larvae, not smaller versions of adults.
• Also in reality, bees collect both nectar and pollen by pollinating flowers. The pollen is used as a primary food source by the bee colony, but has little direct importance to the formation of honey, which is made from the nectar and serves as another food source. Also, in real life, bees are scared of smoke and don't exit the nest or hive.
• However, bees losing their stingers and dying after attacking the player is consistent with real bees, as in reality their stingers are barbed and attached to vital organs, so the stinger gets stuck and causes fatal injuries to the bee once it tries to fly away and the stinger detaches.

Publicity

• Within the Minecraft community, bees are commonly used as a symbol of LGBTQ pride.^[15][16] In 2026, this was used as the basis for the Hive of Harmony add-on.
• Several bees make an appearance in The Muppet Mayhem episode Virtual Insanity, as part of a digital concert in Minecraft the Electric Mayhem are participating in.^[17]

Gallery

Renders

Idle

• 
  A bee
• 
  A bee with nectar on it
• 
  An angry bee
• 
  An angry bee with nectar on it

Animations

• 
  A bee flying in Java Edition
• 
  A bee flying in Bedrock Edition
• 
  A bee stinging
• 
  A bee flying in Bedrock Edition without its bobbing animation (this state cannot been seen in game)
• 
  A bee bobbing in Bedrock Edition without its flying animation (this state cannot been seen in game)

• 
  A baby bee flying in Java Edition
• 
  A baby bee flying in Bedrock Edition
• 
  An angry baby bee flying in Java Edition
• 
  An angry baby bee flying in Bedrock Edition

• 
  A baby bee with nectar flying in Java Edition
• 
  A baby bee with nectar flying in Bedrock Edition
• 
  An angry baby bee with nectar flying in Java Edition
• 
  An angry baby bee with nectar flying in Bedrock Edition

Screenshots

• 
  A naturally generated bee nest in a village in a Superflat world
• 
  A tree with a bee nest in the center of a player-made garden of crops
• 
  A bee gathering nectar
• 
  Bees attacking a llama
• 
  A bee in a forest

Mojang images

• 
  Bees on leads
• 
  A bee
• 
  Bees in a flower forest
• 
  The inside of a bee
• 
  A baby bee with its parent
• 
  Two baby bees together
• 
  Ditto
• 
  Steve with a group of bees

Concept artwork

• 
  Old bee concept artwork and design iterations
• 
  An unreleased bee texture and model
• 
  A concept of a bee during development
• 
  An old bee design from Henrik Kniberg's video
• 
  Concept art for bee-themed items in the character creator
• 
  A recreation of one of the bees
• 
  Ditto

Textures

• 
  Bee texture file
• 
  Bee nectar texture file
• 
  Angry bee texture file
• 
  Angry bee nectar texture file
• 
  Bee stinger texture file
• 
  Baby bee texture file
• 
  Baby bee nectar texture file
• 
  Angry baby bee texture file
• 
  Angry baby bee nectar texture file

In other media

• 
  Artwork
• 
  Artwork of a beehive on oak with bees around it
• 
  Bees in promotional artwork for the Buzzy Bees Update
• 
  A Bee in Caves & Cliffs: Part I update artwork
• 
  Bees in banner for Education Edition 1.14.31
• 
  Artwork of a bee pollinating a cornflower
• 
  Bees in one of the Minecraft backgrounds for Microsoft Teams
• 
  Officially licensed bee plush
• 
  Lego Minecraft minifigure
• 
  "Craft Without Limits," an official T-Shirt design featuring a bee
• 
  "Bee Pocket," a shirt design similiar to Craft Without Limits, but with a pocket
• 
  "I ❤️Minecraft," an official hoodie design featuring two bees
• 
  A woman holding an officially licensed bee moodlight
• 
  Bee Friender, a skin featured in the Builders & Biomes skin pack
• 
  Secondary Bee Friender
• 
  Bee Jumper
• 
  Bee Shirt!
• 
  A bee in the Plastic texture pack
• 
  The potato bee from 24w14potato
• 
  Ari with several bees in the Buzzy Bees section of 15 Year Journey
• 
  Bee in A Minecraft Movie
• 
  A bee waving hello with its wings
• 
  A render of the bee waving hello
• 
  Bee figure of Flippin' Figs
• 
  Bee pixel art
• 
  Angry bee
• 
  A bee as it appears in the Minecraft Movie live event
• 
  A bee plush on a couch with a plushes of Steve, a creeper, and an axolotl in the background
• 
  A bee night light
• 
  Ditto
• 
  Ditto
• 
  A bee bookmark
• 
  Ditto
• 
  A bee as it appears in Minecraft Dungeons
• 
  A social media post featuring bees retextured as various pride flags
• 
  Three bees flying together

See also

• Bee Nest
• Beehive
• Honey Bottle
• Honeycomb

References

External links

• "Mob Menagerie: Bee" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, September 15, 2023.