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Wendy Portrait
They shall labor so I can steal.

Wendy

A Bee Box is a craftable Structure that uses Bees to accumulate Honey that can be harvested. Bee Boxes are found in the Food Tab and require a Science Machine to prototype. It takes 1 Honeycomb, 4 Bees, and 2 Boards to build. When destroyed by a Hammer, it will return 1 Honeycomb and 1 Boards, and will release any Bees inside the Box.

Bee Boxes are also prime targets for Bearger attacks.

Bee Beehaviour[]

A Bee Box will (re)spawn a new Bee every 120 seconds up to the maximum population of 4 per box. All Bees will return to their box at dusk, but they will leave it during daytime one at a time every 15-30 seconds, depending on the length of daytime. During Winter, they won't leave the Box.

Technically, Bees do not have a fixed role. Instead, the same specimen can act as a worker or a fighter depending on what the current situation calls for. Every time a Bee leaves the hive, the game assigns it a role. When a Bee returns to the hive, that role gets erased. Therefore, the same specimen can fight off a threat as a Killer Bee, enter the hive, and then re-emerge as a worker to gather pollen.

If a Bee is attacked or caught with a Bug Net, all members of the hive still inside the box will emerge immediately as Killer Bees and engage. Additionally, Bees of the same hive, and homeless bees 30 Tiles of the attacked or caught bee - killer or otherwise - will join the fight. The combined number of attackers coming to help cannot exceed 10 unless the player attacks again.

When a bee box is harvested, all remaining Bees in the Bee Box will emerge as workers and attack while those that were already outside will ignore the player unless the player fights back. If it is winter, the bees will not emerge to attack when honey is harvested (but they also don't emerge to produce honey during this time).

Honey Honey Production[]

While the player is within 20 tiles, the speed at which Bees gather Honey is dependent upon how easily each bee can pollinate 6 Flowers. Each time this happens, it returns home and increases the Honey content of the hive by 1. The same Flower cannot be pollinated twice by the same Bee within one trip or by two Bees at the same time. If a Bee doesn't pollinate enough Flowers before dusk, it must start over the following morning with a pollination count of zero. Having less than 6 Flowers around a Bee Box halts production entirely.

If the Bee Boxes are more than 20 Tiles from the player, the simplified model of Honey production takes over and Honey will be produced at a rate of 1 per day. The bee boxes still require flowers nearby.

Butterflies can be caught to plant 6 or more flowers near the base of each bee box where bees can find them easily. There may be some advantage to placing boxes next to a natural boundary such as the ocean on the surface world, or the void in the caves.

The Caves have no naturally spawning flowers. Flowers planted under Cave Lights will grow normally, but any planted under insufficient natural light will wilt in a day and can never be revived. Bees will exit their box during the day when there is sufficient light to ward of Charlie (natural or artificial), but since the flowers need to be near to box to be effective, it's best to locate the whole honey farm under a bright Cave Light.

Bee Boxes can contain anywhere between 0 and 6 Honey. Visually they progress through 4 different stages to indicate Honey saturation at 0, 1-2, 3-5 and 6 units respectively. For example, a bee box at stage 3 (almost full) may contain between 3 and 5 pieces of Honey.

Bee Box phases

The four harvest phases of the Bee Box.

Harvesting[]

Any bees in a box typically exit and attack when the player harvests their honey. A quick player can usually dodge this without injury. Placing boxes several tiles away from one another may allow a nimble player to harvest them in quick succession. A well-placed road may help too.

If all bees are out (such as near the end of a day) there is no danger. Some mods like Insight show how many bees are in the hive. In winter there is no danger either because bees won't leave the box during a harvest, but no new honey is produced in winter.

All boxes should be placed about 2 screens away from base so that angry spring bees do not wander in to attack. In other seasons, this distance gives angry bees enough time to de-aggro after harvesting and before the player reaches base.

Players can use any armor to reduce damage from Bees. The Beekeeper Hat reduces bee-specific damage by 80%.

Don't Starve Together icon Hermit Bee Box[]

Wortox Portrait
So much honey! That crabby mortal might crack a smile!

Wortox

The Hermit Bee Box is a naturally spawning object exclusive to Don't Starve Together, introduced in Return of Them. One can be found on the Hermit Island.

The Hermit Bee Box works just like a normal bee box, exceptions being that it cannot be destroyed or burned.

Prototype Tips[]

BeeKeeper Hat

Adequate protection against hostile bees.

  • Bees are slow and can easily be outrun if aggravated. Their kite attacks can even create a larger distance between themselves and the player. It will only take a few seconds of running before Bees will lose interest.
    • Equipping a Walking Cane or building a Cobblestone path to the Bee Box can prove useful. A player can use the increased movement speed to harvest Honey without fear of retaliation if timed correctly.

Placeholder Trivia[]

  • In the old science system, it used to cost 100 Research Points to craft.
  • The honeycomb slot on top of Bee Boxes will appear to fill with Honey as more Honey is stored within.
  • The Hermit Bee Box was introduced to Don't Starve Together in the She Sells Sea Shells update.

Mosquito Bugs[]

  • Occasionally at dusk, Bees will get stuck next to their Box. New Bees do not spawn when there are stuck Bees. They will stay this way indefinitely until caught or attacked. Reloading the game will work too.
  • Sometimes, Bees from the Bee Box will waste time by spinning constantly over Flowers until dusk. This can be fixed by attacking the bee or picking the Flowers that are causing the problem, or by reloading the game.

Blueprint Gallery[]

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