Minecraft:Bee

Template:For Template:Infobox entity A bee is a flying Minecraft:arthropodan Minecraft:neutral mob that lives in a Minecraft:bee nest or Minecraft:beehive, and fills it with harvestable Minecraft:honey using nectar it gathers from Minecraft: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 Minecraft:arthropod mob that can spawn in any Minecraft:difficulty including Peaceful.

Natural generation

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

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

Biome	Chance
	JE	BE
Template:BiomeLink	100%
Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink	5%
Template:BiomeLink	5%	4%
Template:BiomeLink	2%	3%
Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink Template:BiomeLink	0.2%	0.035%
Template:BiomeLink	5%	5%

Saplings

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

Minecraft:Mangroves grown from Minecraft: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.<ref>Template:Bug</ref>

Drops

On death

Upon death, adult bees drop Template:Xp Minecraft:experience when killed by a Minecraft:player or a tamed Minecraft:wolf. Like other baby animals, killing a baby bee yields no experience.

Breeding

When two bees Minecraft:breed and produce offspring, Template:Xp is dropped.

Behavior

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

Bees are considered Minecraft:arthropods and take increased Minecraft:damage from the Minecraft:Bane of Arthropods new enchantment.<ref name="pre">Template:Mcnet</ref> They also take Template:Hp damage every half second if they stay in Minecraft:water for more than Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Bug</ref> Bees do not take damage from Minecraft:sweet berry bushes.

Bees can be attached to a Minecraft: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 Minecraft: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 Minecraft: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 Minecraft:turtle eggs when on top of them.<ref>Template:Bug</ref>

Pollinating

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

After circling a flower for more than Template:Convert, 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 Minecraft:particles to fertilize plants below the bee.

Bees that have nectar may pollinate Minecraft:pitcher cropsTemplate:Only, Minecraft:wheat crops, Minecraft:potato crops, Minecraft:carrot crops, Minecraft:beetroot crops, Minecraft:melon stems, Minecraft:sweet berry bushes, Minecraft:pumpkin stems, Minecraft:cave vines, and Minecraft:torchflower crops that they fly over. When one of these plants gets pollinated, it advances to another growth stage, similar to using Minecraft: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

File:Bee and bee nest.png

A bee going into a bee nest.

Template:See also Bees live together in colonies and take any Minecraft:bee nest or Minecraft: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 Minecraft:rains and during the Minecraft:night. This behavior extends to biomes that don't rain, such as the Minecraft:desert. They stay in their nest or hive for at least Template:Convert before coming back out. Bees in a nest/hive retain their data (Minecraft:health, name, etc.).

Breaking a nest or hive without Minecraft: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 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 Minecraft:player can harvest Minecraft:honeycombs or Minecraft:honey bottles. The honey level resets back to 0 when a honeycomb or honey bottle is harvested.

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

Attacking

Template:Main 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 Minecraft:Silk Touch tool, bees kept within the hive remain neutral, while those outside the hive also remain neutral.

File:Invisible stingers.png

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

Bees attack and swarm the Minecraft:player as a group when angered, and the eyes of angered bees turn red. Collecting a Minecraft:honeycomb or a Minecraft: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 Minecraft:campfire is placed within five blocks below the hive. Bees attack only once, similar to Minecraft:llamas, and non-aggressive Minecraft:pandas.

Bees do not deal any damage in Minecraft: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 Minecraft:shield, the bee continues attacking until it succeeds in hitting the player.

When a bee's attack on a player succeeds, the player is Minecraft: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 Minecraft:effects (Minecraft:Regeneration/Minecraft:Resistance/Minecraft: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 Minecraft:mobs when Minecraft:damaged, for example, if a Minecraft:skeleton accidentally shoots a bee, the bee will sting a Minecraft:player

Bees become neutral if they fail to land a hit on their target until anger counter runs out. Minecraft: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.
  The stinging animation; the bee can remain upside down for longer periods of time if a distance is kept.
• Prior to stinging
  Prior to stinging
• After stinging
  After stinging

Template:IN, a bee's stinger is visible on the player as a small black dot after the bee successfully attacked.

• File:Steve got stung.png

Breeding

Bees follow Minecraft:players holding any 1- or 2-block tall Minecraft:flowers (except Minecraft:closed eyeblossoms and Minecraft:golden dandelions), Minecraft:mangrove propagules, Minecraft:flowering azaleas, Minecraft:flowering azalea leaves, Minecraft:cherry leaves, Minecraft:pink petals, Minecraft:wildflowers, Minecraft:spore blossoms, Minecraft:cactus flowers or Minecraft: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 Minecraft:open eyeblossom and Minecraft:wither rose), they enter love mode and pair up to create baby bees, granting the Minecraft:player 1-7 Minecraft:experience. The parent bees have a cooldown of Template:Convert before they can be bred again. Minecraft:Babies take Template:Convert 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.

Minecraft:Wither roses and Minecraft: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 Template:Convert, while feeding a bee an open eyeblossom inflicts it with Minecraft:Poison for Template:Convert. Minecraft:Closed eyeblossoms and Minecraft: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

Template:JE: Template:SoundTable

Template:BE: Template:SoundTable

Data values

ID

Template:Edition: Template:ID table

Template:Edition: Template:ID table

Entity data

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

Template:El: Template:Main

<section begin="entity data" />

• Template:Nbt Entity data
  • Template:Nbt inherit/angerable
  • Template:Nbt inherit/breedable
  • Template:Nbt inherit/entity
  • Template:Nbt inherit/mob
  • Template:Nbt: 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 Minecraft:campfire.
  • Template:Nbt: How many crops the bee has grown since its last pollination. Used to limit number of crops it can grow.
  • Template:Nbt: Block location, as 3 integers, of the flower that the bee is circling.
  • Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the bee is carrying nectar.
  • Template:Nbt: 1 or 0 (true/false) - true if the bee has stung a mob or player.
  • Template:Nbt: Block location, as 3 integers, of the bee's hive.
  • Template:Nbt: Number of ticks passed since the bee's last pollination.

<section end="entity data" />

Template:El:

See Minecraft:Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements

Achievements that apply to all mobs: Template:Collapse

Advancements

Advancements that apply to all mobs: Template:Collapse

History

Trivia

• Bees were made to be half a Minecraft:block in size because Mojang considered this size to be the cutest.<ref>Template:Ytl</ref>
• Template:IN, bees pollinate only the top half of Minecraft: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 Template:MC community, bees are commonly used as a symbol of Template:Wikipedia.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref><ref>Template:Tweet</ref> In 2026, this was used as the basis for the Minecraft:Hive of Harmony Minecraft:add-on.

Gallery

Renders

Idle

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

Animations

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

Screenshots

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

Mojang images

• Bees on leads.
  Bees on leads.
• A bee.
  A bee.
• Bees in a flower forest.
  Bees in a flower forest.
• The inside of a bee.
  The inside of a bee.
• File:Introducing baby bees.jpg
• File:Bees in every timeline.jpg
• File:Bee kind.jpg
• File:Steve and the bees.jpg

Concept artwork

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

Textures

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

In other media

• Artwork
  Artwork
• Artwork of a Minecraft:beehive on Minecraft:oak with bees around it.
  Artwork of a Minecraft:beehive on Minecraft:oak with bees around it.
• Bees in promotional artwork for the Minecraft:Buzzy Bees Update.
  Bees in promotional artwork for the Minecraft:Buzzy Bees Update.
• A Bee in Minecraft:Caves & Cliffs: Part I update artwork.
  A Bee in Minecraft:Caves & Cliffs: Part I update artwork.
• Bees in banner for Minecraft:Education Edition 1.14.31.
  Bees in banner for Minecraft:Education Edition 1.14.31.
• Artwork of a bee pollinating a Minecraft:cornflower.
  Artwork of a bee pollinating a Minecraft:cornflower.
• Bees in one of the Minecraft backgrounds for Microsoft Teams
  Bees in one of the Minecraft backgrounds for Microsoft Teams
• Officially licensed bee plush.
  Officially licensed bee plush.
• Minecraft:Lego Minecraft minifigure
  Minecraft:Lego Minecraft minifigure
• "Craft Without Limits," an official T-Shirt design featuring a bee.
  "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.
  "Bee Pocket," a shirt design similiar to Craft Without Limits, but with a pocket.
• "I ❤️Minecraft," an official hoodie design featuring two bees.
  "I ❤️Minecraft," an official hoodie design featuring two bees.
• A woman holding an officially licensed bee moodlight.
  A woman holding an officially licensed bee moodlight.
• Bee Friender, a skin featured in the Minecraft:Builders & Biomes skin pack.
  Bee Friender, a skin featured in the Minecraft:Builders & Biomes skin pack.
• Secondary Bee Friender.
  Secondary Bee Friender.
• Bee Jumper
  Bee Jumper
• Bee Shirt!
  Bee Shirt!
• A bee in the Minecraft:Plastic texture pack
  A bee in the Minecraft:Plastic texture pack
• The potato bee from 24w14potato.
  The potato bee from 24w14potato.
• Minecraft:Ari with several bees in the Buzzy Bees section of Minecraft:15 Year Journey.
  Minecraft:Ari with several bees in the Buzzy Bees section of Minecraft:15 Year Journey.
• Bee in Template:AMCM.
  Bee in Template:AMCM.
• A bee waving hello with its wings.
  A bee waving hello with its wings.
• A render of the bee waving hello
  A render of the bee waving hello
• Bee figure of Flippin' Figs
  Bee figure of Flippin' Figs
• a yellow bee against green background
  Bee pixel art.
• Angry bee.
  Angry bee.
• A bee as it appears in the Minecraft Movie live event.
  A bee as it appears in the Minecraft Movie live event.
• Plush of Minecraft's bee mob laying on a couch with other Minecraft merchandise behind it. A big letter "B" is above the bee.
  A bee plush on a couch with a plushes of Minecraft:Steve, a Minecraft:creeper, and an Minecraft:axolotl in the background.
• File:Jessica-eberle-4.jpg
• File:Jessica-eberle-5.jpg
• File:Jessica-eberle-6.jpg
• File:Jessica-eberle-515sbatapcl-ac-sl1500.jpg
• File:Jessica-eberle-rf-16701-minecraft-yellow-bee-reading-light-02.jpg
• A bee as it appears in Minecraft:Minecraft Dungeons
  A bee as it appears in Minecraft:Minecraft Dungeons
• A social media post featuring bees retextured as various pride flags
  A social media post featuring bees retextured as various pride flags

See also

• Template:BlockLink
• Template:BlockLink
• Template:ItemLink
• Template:ItemLink

External links

• Template:Mcnet