Bee

Bees are neutral mobs. They are passive until provoked by attacking, or by gathering honey from a Beehive or Bee Boxes, in which case all nearby Bees (up to 10 bees) will start attacking the player. Bee Hives will also spawn Killer Bees. Bees are usually are seen wandering in search of flowers. They live in Bee Hives. Destroying a bee hive yields 3 Honey and 1 Honeycomb.

Bees naturally fly around Bee Hives (or a Bee Box, if researched and built). They remain passive until provoked by attacking the hive or one of the bees. They will attack in swarms, coming from the hive.

Killing one may drop honey or a stinger. They can be caught using the bug net in which case they will drop a bee (used for Bee Box or Bee Mine).

A nest of bees respawn every day, but the hives don't.

If there are no bees around a hive  that means all 6 spots in the hive are taken up by Killer bees. For normal bees to spawn again kill the Killer bees.

They can hurt you while wearing a Beekeeper Hat but its only 1 health point per hit. Although, durability with this item is limited.

Bees will also deal minor damage while in your inventory(unless you have the Beekeeper's Hat). A good tactic is to attack the hive and run, when they stop following destroy the hive to get the honeycomb and honey. Wait till night and then go with a torch, a bug net and a Beekeeper's Hat and get a sleeping bee with the net so it can't offer any defense. Beware, though; after a few in-game hours, the bees will disappear from you inventory.