Table of Contents
Introduction
Honey items were introduced in Minecraft version 1.15, also known as the Buzzy Bees update. This added bees, beehives, honeycombs, and of course, honey to the game. Honey can be used to craft useful items like honey blocks and honey bottles. It also has some interesting properties, like reducing fall damage and healing poison.
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know to start crafting honey items and putting them to use in your Minecraft survival world.
Finding Bees and Bee Nests
The first step is locating bees and their nests out in the wild. Bees spawn naturally in certain biomes that have lots of flowers and trees:
- Plains
- Sunflower Plains
- Flower Forest
- Forest
- Birch Forest
Look for bee nests generating in oak and birch trees within these biomes. The nests look like small grey boxes hanging from the tree logs.
You can also craft artificial beehives to house bees yourself later on.
Gathering Honey
Once you’ve found a bee nest, it’s time to start gathering honey. Here’s what to do:
- Hold an empty glass bottle in your hand
- Sneak up to the nest during the day when bees are away
- Right click the nest with the bottle to fill it up with honey
- Repeat until you have the desired number of honey bottles
Make sure to avoid angering the bees by harvesting too much honey or they will attack! Placing a campfire under the nest will pacify the bees while harvesting.
Crafting Honey Blocks
Honey blocks are crafted by placing 4 honey bottles in a square shape on the crafting grid:
Honey block recipe
Honey blocks are extremely useful for building traps, transportation systems, and more. When an entity moves on top of a honey block, their movement speed slows down drastically. Honey blocks also reduce fall damage by 20%.
Crafting Honey Bottles
As mentioned already, honey bottles can be gathered directly from bee nests using an empty glass bottle. But they can also be crafted by placing 1 honey block and 4 glass bottles on the crafting grid:
Honey bottle recipe
Drinking a honey bottle restores 3 hunger points and also cures poison. Honey bottles can also be used to craft sugar and honey blocks, as shown above.
Making a Beehive
You can craft an artificial beehive which bees will recognize as their home. Just like natural nests, beehives can be harvested for honey.
To make a beehive you’ll need:
- 6 Wood Planks
- 3 Honeycombs
Arrange them in this pattern on the crafting grid:
Beehive recipe
Place your newly crafted beehives near flowers and wait for bees to find them!
Setting Up a Honey Farm
With enough beehives populated by bees, you can produce honey automatically on a large scale by building a honey farm. There are many possible designs, but the concept is rather simple:
- Funnel bees into beehives using water streams or fences
- Collect filled honey bottles using hoppers/chests under the hives
- Power the whole system using redstone components
This will generate a steady, hands-off supply of honey. The honey can then be used to craft useful items or simply consumed for health regeneration.
Conclusion
That covers the basics of obtaining honey and crafting all the items it allows for in Minecraft survival mode. With enough infrastructure set up, you can become the ultimate beekeeper and honey producer in your Minecraft world.
The applications of honey blocks for building traps and transportation systems alone make bees well worth the effort. And unlimited food and healing from honey bottles isn’t bad either!
