Bee Nest

For the crafted block, see Beehive.

Bee Nest

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Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64) without bees inside No with bee(s) inside
Tool
Blast resistance	0.3
Hardness	0.3
Luminous	No
Transparent	No
Flammable	Yes (30)
Catches fire from lava	Yes
Map color	18 COLOR_YELLOW
Note block instrument	Bass

Bee nests are blocks found attached to certain trees. They house bees, which fill their homes with honey made from gathered flower nectar. Full bee nests can be harvested for honeycombs (using shears) or honey bottles (using glass bottles). Bees attack players who harvest or break their homes without utilizing campfires or Silk Touch, respectively.

Obtaining

Breaking

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, attempting to sting them, which causes Poison on success. Nearby bees also become angry and attack. If a Silk Touch tool is used, the bee nest drops itself and any bees inside remain inside, and any bees nearby do not become angry.

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

Block	Bee Nest
Hardness	0.3
Tool
Breaking time (sec)[A]
Default	10.45 (JE) 0.45 (BE)
Wooden	10.25 (JE) 0.25 (BE)
Stone	10.15 (JE) 0.15 (BE)
Copper	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Iron	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Diamond	10.1 (JE) 0.1 (BE)
Netherite	10.1 (JE) 0.05 (BE)
Golden	10.05 (JE) 0.05 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Natural generation

Naturally generated bee nests generate with 2-3 bees in them, and always face south.

Bee nests generate in the following biomes with different chances:

Biome	Chance[note 1]
	Java Edition	Bedrock Edition
Meadow	100%
Plains Sunflower plains Cherry grove	5%
Mangrove swamp	1%
Flower forest	2%	3%
Forest Birch forest Old growth birch forest Wooded Hills‌[BE only] Birch Forest Hills‌[BE only] Tall Birch Hills‌[BE only]	0.2%	0.035%

Post-generation

Oak, birch, and cherry 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 2–3 bees. This holds true in any biome in any dimension, and for any flower including wither roses, chorus flowers, and flowering azaleas.

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]

In Bedrock Edition, oak trees grown in plains have a chance to grow with a bee nest regardless of the quantity of flowers nearby. It is not known if this behavior is intended.

Usage

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 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 collecting nectar 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

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

Each time a bee enters a nest or hive covered in nectar, it starts converting it to honey. After it is done, it waits for daylight with no rain (if necessary), then exits to go collect more nectar. If the bee hive or nest is in the Nether or in the End the bee exits as soon as it converts the nectar. When the bee exits, the hive increments its honey level by 1 and has a 1% chance to increment it by 2. Once it has the maximum honey level of 5, 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 a honey bottle, a player uses a glass bottle on the nest or hive; filling the bottle with honey. To harvest honeycombs, a player uses shears on the nest or hive, causing it to drop three honeycombs. After harvesting, the hive or nest is reset to empty (honey level 0, with the default appearance).

Alternatively, honey bottles or honeycombs can be harvested by powering a dispenser containing either a glass bottle or shears. The dispenser must be directly facing the hive or nest.

Manually harvesting from a beehive or bee nest causes any bees inside it to become aggravated toward the harvesting 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 a redstone comparator output with a strength equal to the honey level in the block, with a maximum signal strength of 5 once the block is completely full and ready for harvesting.

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

wood sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	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​[until: JE 26.4]	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
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.wood.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	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:

normal sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.stone	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	place.stone	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.stone	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.27 [sound 1]	0.5
	​Footsteps	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.4	1.0
	​Footsteps	Players	Walking on the block	step.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.3	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.12	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.stone	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.22	1.0

Unique

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

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

Name	Identifier
Block entity	beehive

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Bee Nest	bee_nest	473	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	tile.bee_nest.name

Name	Savegame ID
Block entity	Beehive

Block states

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Block data

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

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

Item data

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Total Beelocation	Move and place a Bee Nest, with 3 bees inside, using Silk Touch.	—	30	Silver

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	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.
	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.

History

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.15			19w34a				Added bee nests.
			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 nests are now flammable.
			19w42a				"Bee nest" has been renamed to "Bee Nest".
1.15.2			pre1				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.
							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.
1.16			20w13a				Bee nests now appear yellow on maps.
1.18			experimental snapshot 2				Bee nests now have a high chance to spawn in meadows.​
			21w39a				Bee nests now have a 100% chance to spawn in meadows.
1.19			22w14a				Bee nests now have a 5% chance to spawn in mangrove trees as well as inside mangrove swamps.
1.19.4 Experiment Update 1.20			23w07a				Bee nests now have a 5% chance to spawn in cherry trees as well as inside cherry groves.
1.21.2			24w35a				Now show information about their level of honey and number of bees in their tooltip.
							Now use their "full" texture when held or in the inventory, and they are at max level of honey.

Bedrock Edition

Bedrock Edition
1.14.0			beta 1.14.0.1				Added bee nests.
			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 bee nest with Silk Touch no longer angers bees.
1.19.0			beta 1.19.0.20				Bee nests now have a chance to spawn in mangrove trees as well as inside mangrove swamps.
1.20.30			Preview 1.20.20.21				Decreased the blast resistance of bee nests from 2.7 to 0.3.
1.21.40			Preview 1.21.40.20				Bee nests can no longer be used as fuel in a furnace.

Data history

Issues

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

See also

• Beehive
• Tutorial:Honey farming

Gallery

Renders

Bee nest

• 
  Facing south
• 
  Facing west
• 
  Facing north
• 
  Facing east
• 
  Facing south, with honey
• 
  Facing west, with honey
• 
  Facing north, with honey
• 
  Facing east, with honey

On tree

• 
  An oak tree with a bee nest

Screenshots

• 
  A bee flying next to a bee nest
• 
  3 bee nests generated close to each other
• 
  2 bee nests found close together, found in birch forest

In other media

• 
  Artwork of several bees near a bee nest

References