How to Collect Honey in Minecraft: Bees, Beehives & Honeycombs Explained

Minecraft introduced bees in the 1.14 update, offering players the exciting opportunity to harvest honey. However, handling bees and collecting honey requires some know-how and preparation. Minecraft bees like to specifically hang around three distinct biomes: Flower Forest, Plains, and Sunflower Plains.

So, if you want to know how to collect honey in Minecraft, you are at the right place. In this guide, we will walk you through the essential items needed for making honey, the process of getting honey, crafting beehives, and the uses of honeycomb in Minecraft.

Items Required to Get Honey in Minecraft

You'll need a few key items to start collecting honey in Minecraft:

• Glass Bottles: Essential for storing the honey.

• Campfire: This item is crucial for making bees docile during the honey collection process.

• Beehive/Bee Nest: The source of honey, found in plains, flower forests, forests, and hill biomes.

How to Get Honey in Minecraft

To obtain honey in Minecraft, follow these steps:

1. Make Glass Bottles: Gather sand, cook it into glass, and craft glass bottles by arranging them in a "V" shape on a crafting table.

2. Prepare a Campfire: Combine three sticks, coal/charcoal, and three raw logs in your crafting menu to create a campfire.

3. Locate a Bee Nest: Bee nests spawn naturally in various biomes. You can look for them in flower fields, plains, flower forests, regular forests, and hill biomes. You can also plant a sapling and a flower close together; There's a 5% chance a mature tree will have a beehive.

4. Smoke the Bees: Place a campfire underneath the bee nest to calm the bees. While you can collect honey without smoking the bees, the campfire will prevent them from attacking you.

5. Collect the Honey: Right-click on the bee nest with glass bottles in your hotbar to gather honey. Gooey honey spilling out of the beehive indicates that it's ready for harvesting.

6. Repeat as Needed: You can collect up to 5 honey bottles at a time. The more honey spills out, the longer you can wait to gather more honey.

How to Make a Beehive in Minecraft

While you can't craft a bee nest, you can craft a beehive with the following steps:

1. Gather Honeycomb: Right-click on a beehive or nest with shears equipped to obtain honeycomb. Ensure the nest or hive is smoked to avoid aggro from bees.

2. Craft a Beehive: Combine three honeycombs and six wooden planks (any kind) on a crafting table to craft a beehive.

3. Grow Saplings: You can generate beehives alternatively by growing saplings next to flowers. Each tree within two blocks of a flower has a 5% chance to generate a beehive.

4. Use Silk Touch: Beehives require a silk touch tool to obtain. Otherwise, the bees will accompany the broken hive and it will not drop as an item.