Bee

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For other uses, see Bee (disambiguation).
Bee
Health points

10HP♥♥♥♥♥

Behavior

Neutral

Mob type

Animal, Arthropod

Attack
strength

Easy: 2HP♥
Normal: 2HP♥
Hard: 3HP♥♥
Venom:
1HP♥ per 1.25 sec
Normal: Poison for 10 sec (HP♥♥♥♥)
Hard: Poison for 18 sec (HP♥ × 7)

Hitbox size

In Java Edition:
Adult:
Height: 0.6 blocks
Width: 0.7 blocks
Baby:
Height: 0.3 blocks
Width: 0.35 blocks
In Bedrock Edition:
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

Bees are flying neutral mobs that live in bee nests and beehives. Bees pollinate flowers and, when they do, add honey to their home when they return to it. When full, bee nests or beehives can be harvested with shears for honeycombs or glass bottles for honey bottles. If provoked by being attacked or breaking or harvesting their hive or nest without the correct precautions, bees suicidally attack in a swarm.

Spawning

Natural generation

Naturally generated bee nests generate with 3 bees in them.

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

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

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 orbs when killed by a player or a tamed wolf. Like other baby animals, killing a baby bee yields no experience.

Breeding

Upon breeding with any flower successfully, 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 damage when touching water.[3]

Bees can be attached to a lead, even when angered. They can still attack while attached.

Bees usually venture up to 22 blocks from their beehive to find something they can pollinate or to attack someone. Bees can venture further 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. Bees also spin on scaffolding if they are on top of it and cannot go anywhere.[4]

Despite being flying mobs, bees can destroy turtle eggs when on top of them.[5]

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 and wildflowers[upcoming]. Bees can pollinate wither roses but receive the wither effect. As a result, bees can die.[6] Bees can also pollinate open eyeblossoms, but get poisoned as result; they cannot pollinate and completely ignore closed eyeblossoms. Bees also completely ignore flowers in flower pots.[7][8]

After circling a flower for more than 400 ticks, a bee collects pollen. However, if the bee gets damaged, it ceases its pollination efforts. A bee carrying pollen changes its texture to include pollen spots on its abdomen and drops pollen particles to fertilize plants below the bee.

Bees that have pollen may pollinate wheat crops, potato crops, carrot crops, beetroot crops, melon stems, sweet berry bushes, pumpkin stems, cave vines, torchflower crops, and pitcher pods 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 pollen. There is an approximately 1% 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

A bee coming out of a bee nest.

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 releases 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 pollen 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. 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

Main article: Damage

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 it is raining), or a bee nest/beehive is destroyed. Even destroying newly-placed uninhabited artificial beehives anger nearby bees. Hitting or walking on a beehive does not anger bees; it must be destroyed to anger them. When destroyed, a beehive releases any bees that it contained, and these bees are angry. 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.

The Invisibility effect does not cause stingers in stung players to disappear.

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 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, just like normal.

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 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.

Bees become neutral if they fail to land a hit on their target within 25 seconds.

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

Breeding

Main article: Breeding

Bees follow players holding any 1- or 2-block tall flowers (except closed eyeblossom), flowering azalea, cherry leaves, flowering azalea leaves, mangrove propagule, spore blossom, pink petals, or chorus flower. 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 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 using flowers; 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 cannot be used to lead, breed or grow bees.

Sounds

Java Edition:
Bees use the Friendly Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

[hide]Sounds
SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
​Bee buzzesFriendly CreaturesWhile a bee is passive and moving horizontallyentity.bee.loopsubtitles.entity.bee.loopvaries [sound 1] [sound 2]0.98-1.14
(Baby: 1.54-1.7) [sound 3]
6
​Bee buzzes angrilyFriendly CreaturesWhile a bee is hostile and moving horizontallyentity.bee.loop_aggressivesubtitles.entity.bee.loop_aggressive0.8 [sound 2]0.98-1.14
(Baby: 1.54-1.7) [sound 3]
10
​Bee stingsFriendly CreaturesWhen a bee stings somethingentity.bee.stingsubtitles.entity.bee.sting1.01.0/0.816
​Bee diesFriendly CreaturesWhen a bee diesentity.bee.deathsubtitles.entity.bee.death0.40.8-1.2
(Baby: 1.3-1.7)
16
​Bee hurtsFriendly CreaturesWhen a bee is damagedentity.bee.hurtsubtitles.entity.bee.hurt0.40.8-1.2
(Baby: 1.3-1.7) [sound 4]
16
​Bee buzzes happilyFriendly CreaturesWhile a bee is collecting pollenentity.bee.pollinatesubtitles.entity.bee.pollinate0.81.012
  1. loop1 and 2 are multiplied by 0.6; loop3 and 4 are 0.65; loop5 is 0.7 and 0.75
  2. Jump up to: a b Multiplied by the bee's horizontal velocity (capped at 0.5) × 1.2
  3. Jump up to: a b The bee's horizontal velocity (capped between 0.7-1.1 (Baby: 1.1-1.5)), linearly interpolated between 0.7 and 1.1 (Baby: 1.1 and 1.5)
  4. Can be multiplied by 1.0 or 1.2 for each sound

Bedrock Edition:

[hide]Sounds
SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
Friendly CreaturesWhen a bee diesmob.bee.death0.60.9-1.1 (Baby: 1.4-1.6)
Friendly CreaturesWhen a bee is damagedmob.bee.hurt0.60.9-1.1 (Baby: 1.4-1.6)
Friendly CreaturesWhile a bee is passive and moving horizontallymob.bee.loop0.61.0 (Baby: 1.5)
Friendly CreaturesWhile a bee is hostile and moving horizontallymob.bee.aggressive0.61.0 (Baby: 1.5)
Friendly CreaturesWhile a bee is collecting pollenmob.bee.pollinate0.851.0 (Baby: 1.5)
Friendly CreaturesWhen a bee stings somethingmob.bee.sting0.60.8-1.0 (Baby: 1.3-1.5)

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierEntity tags[hide]Translation key
EntitySprite bee.png: Sprite image for bee in Minecraft Beebeearthropod
beehive_inhabitors
fall_damage_immune
sensitive_to_bane_of_arthropods
entity.minecraft.bee

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID [hide]Translation key
EntitySprite bee.png: Sprite image for bee in Minecraft Beebee122entity.bee.name

Entity data

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

Java Edition:

Main article: Entity format
  • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Entity data
    • Additional fields for mobs that can become angry see Template:Nbt inherit/angerable/template[show]
    • Additional fields for mobs that can breed see Template:Nbt inherit/breedable/template[show]
    • Tags common to all entities see Template:Nbt inherit/entity/template[show]
    • Tags common to all mobs see Template:Nbt inherit/mob/template[show]
    • [Int] CannotEnterHiveTicks: Time left in ticks until the bee can enter a beehive. Used when the bee is angered and released from the hive by a player, but the hive is smoked by a campfire.
    • [Int] CropsGrownSincePollination: How many crops the bee has grown since its last pollination. Used to limit number of crops it can grow.
    • [Int Array] flower_pos: Block location, as 3 integers, of the flower that the bee is circling.
    • [Byte] HasNectar: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the bee is carrying pollen.
    • [Byte] HasStung: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the bee has stung a mob or player.
    • [Int Array] hive_pos: Block location, as 3 integers, of the bee's hive.
    • [Int] TicksSincePollination: Number of ticks passed since the bee's last pollination.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

[hide]
IconAchievementIn-game descriptionActual requirements (if different)Gamerscore earnedTrophy type (PS)
PS4Other
Bee our guestUse a Campfire to collect Honey from a Beehive using a Bottle without aggravating the bees.15Bronze
It SpreadsKill a mob next to a catalyst10Bronze
OverkillDeal 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.30Bronze
Over-OverkillDeal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace20Silver
Total BeelocationMove and place a Bee Nest, with 3 bees inside, using Silk Touch.30Silver

Advancements

IconAdvancementIn-game descriptionActual requirements (if different)
A Throwaway JokeThrow a Trident at something.
Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.
Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
AdventureAdventure, exploration and combatKill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
ArbalisticKill five unique mobs with one crossbow shotArmor Stand also counts 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.
Bee Our GuestUse a Campfire to collect Honey from a Beehive using a Glass Bottle without aggravating the BeesUse a glass bottle on a beehive or bee nest while not angering the bees inside.
It SpreadsKill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst Mobs that drop no experience as well as the ender dragon are ignored for this advancement.
Over-OverkillDeal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace
Take AimShoot something with an ArrowUsing a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.
The Parrots and the BatsBreed two animals together 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 BeelocationMove a Bee Nest, with 3 Bees inside, using Silk TouchUnlike most other advancements, this advancement is granted upon breaking the nest, rather than it entering your inventory.
Two by TwoBreed all the animals! 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.

History

[hide]Java Edition
1.1519w34a Added bees and baby bees.
Bees and baby bees can become angry and attack the player.
Bees and baby bees can pollinate flowers and show the nectar on them after doing so.
Bees and baby bees that have pollinated flowers can become angry and attack the player.
19w35aBees now try to avoid water.
Bee nests now spawn less frequently, making bees rarer.
Breeding bees now counts toward the "Two by Two" advancement.
19w36aBees are now affected by the Bane of Arthropods enchantment.
Bees are now able to pollinate on a 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.[9]
"bee_angry_nectar" now has same pollen pattern as "bee_nectar", which has changed the textures from to .[10]
Bees no longer stop flying after reaching the player they are following.
19w41aBees now "eat" honey blocks.
19w45aBees now search up to 10 blocks away from itself in all directions to find a nest/hive to claim.
19w46aBees now exit beehives only from the front.
1.15.2pre1Bees 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.
1.1620w10aFirework damage now provokes bees.[11]
20w12aThe maximum distance a bee can wander away from its home hive when randomly wandering has been reduced to around 22 blocks.
1.1721w13aBees now see flowering azalea and flowering azalea leaves as flowers.
1.1922w11aBees now see mangrove propagule as flowers.[12]
1.19.4
Experiment
Update 1.20
1.19.4 Pre-release 1Bees now see cherry leaves, pink petals, and torchflowers as flowers.[13]
1.20.223w33aBees now see spore blossom and chorus flower as flowers.[14]
1.20.524w06aChanged bee entity data:
  • Changed [NBT Compound / JSON Object] FlowerPos (with [Int] x, [Int] y and [Int] z) to [Int Array] flower_pos.
  • Changed [NBT Compound / JSON Object] HivePos (with [Int] x, [Int] y and [Int] z) to [Int Array] hive_pos.
24w11aAdjusted their flying behavior to keep them from overshooting their position when flying up and down.
1.21.224w33aBees now wander around randomly for less time after exiting a nest/hive.
If a bee has a known nest/hive, it will travel 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.
1.21.424w44aBees now get the Wither effect when fed with wither roses, and the Poison effect when fed with eyeblossoms.
24w45aBees are no longer attracted to closed eyeblossoms.
Bees can no longer interact with closed eyeblossoms.
24w46aBees no longer get poisoned when they touch a closed eyeblossom.
Leashed bees no longer enter beehives or bee nests.
[hide]Upcoming Java Edition
1.21.525w02aAre now attracted to, and can be bred using wildflowers.
25w06aAre now attracted to, and can be bred using cactus flowers.
[hide]Bedrock Edition
1.14.0beta 1.14.0.1 Added bees.
Bees and baby bees can become angry and attack the player.
Bees and baby bees can pollinate flowers and show the nectar on them after doing so.
Bees and baby bees that have pollinated flowers can become angry and attack the player.
1.16.0beta 1.16.0.63Bees no longer fly faster when swarming a player or mob.
1.17.0beta 1.16.230.50Bees are now attracted to flowering azalea and flowering azalea leaves.
beta 1.17.0.56Bees no longer gather nectar from sweet berry bushes.
1.20.60Preview 1.20.60.25Bees no longer take damage when moving through sweet berry bushes.
1.21.50Preview 1.21.50.28Bees now get the Wither effect when fed with wither roses.
Bees can no longer be tempted or pollinate with closed eyeblossoms.
Feeding bees open eyeblossoms now applies the poison effect.

Issues

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

Trivia

Gallery

Renders

Idle

Animations

Screenshots

Mojang images

Concept artwork

Textures

In other media

See also

References

  1. MC-249937 — Propagules grown without a flower nearby can generate bee nests in the mangrove tree — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  2. "Minecraft Snapshot 19w36a"Minecraft.net, July 3, 2019.
  3. MC-167148 — Bees take damage upon contact with water — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  4. MC-271388 — Bees spin on scaffolding
  5. MC-248332
  6. MC-159396 — Bees target wither roses and die — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  7. MC-168267
  8. MCPE-109956
  9. MC-159560
  10. MC-159743
  11. MC-111498 — Fireworks and water bottles damage don't make neutral mobs angry or hostile — resolved as "Fixed".
  12. MC-249147 — Bees pollinate and follow players holding the mangrove propagule (sapling) — resolved as "Works As Intended".
  13. MC-260051
  14. MC-214126 — Bees don't pollinate themselves with spore blossoms or chorus flowers — resolved as "Fixed".
  15. "MINECON Live 2019" – Minecraft on YouTube, September 28, 2019

External links

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