How To Harvest Bees In Minecraft & Best Locations To Find Them

Bees have been a beloved part of Minecraft since the 1.15 Buzzy Bees update in 2019, and as of 2025, they continue to play a key role in pollination, honey farming, and ecosystem mechanics. With updates up to 1.21.9 and beyond, including the Copper Age and snapshot features, bees now interact with more flower types and biomes. They are neutral mobs that remain passive unless provoked. This guide covers how to harvest bees in Minecraft (including their products and relocation) and the best places to find them.

Where to find Minecraft bees
How to harvest bees in Minecraft

Where the bees at? Here are the updated locations for bee hunting and how to harvest them in 2025.

Where to find Minecraft bees

Like real-life bees, Minecraft bees only attack when provoked, such as by harvesting without precautions or destroying their home. After stinging, they lose their stinger and die shortly after. Bees provide honey, honeycomb, and pollination benefits for crops.

Bees spawn naturally in bee nests on oak, birch, or cherry trees in sunny, flower-rich biomes. The best spots include:

Meadows: 100% chance for bee nests – the absolute best location.
Plains and Sunflower Plains: 5% chance.
Cherry Groves: 5% chance, with beautiful pink foliage.
Mangrove Swamps: 4-5% chance (varies by edition).
Flower Forests: 2-3% chance.
Forests, Birch Forests, Old Growth Birch Forests: Low chance (0.035-0.2%).

Bee nests generate with up to 3 bees inside. You can also create nests by growing saplings (oak, birch, cherry, or mangrove) near flowers, with a 5% chance for oak/birch/cherry or 1% for mangrove. Recent updates (e.g., 25w02a and 25w06a) allow bees to interact with new plants like wildflowers and cactus flowers.

Minecraft bees are adorable but stay cautious to keep them passive. New biomes like meadows make finding them easier.

Once found, you can harvest their products or relocate them. Bees can also be bred and tamed somewhat like other animals.

How to harvest bees in Minecraft

After locating a bee nest or hive, harvest honey, honeycomb, or move the bees using tools like flowers, campfires, shears, or Silk Touch. Here's how:

Flowers for Luring and Breeding: Use any 1- or 2-block flower (including wildflowers, cactus flowers, spore blossoms, or chorus flowers from 2025 updates) to lure bees or breed them. Hold a flower to attract bees, then lead them to a new spot or use a lead. For breeding, feed two bees flowers to produce a baby bee (5-minute cooldown). Babies grow in 20 minutes, sped up by feeding flowers.
Campfire for Safe Harvesting: Place a lit campfire under the nest/hive (up to 5 blocks below, smoke passes through one solid block). This calms bees, allowing safe use of glass bottles for honey or shears for honeycomb. In farms, use dispensers with redstone for automation.
Honeycomb and Honey: At honey level 5 (dripping honey), use shears for 3 honeycombs or a glass bottle for a honey bottle. Combine honeycombs with planks to craft beehives. Avoid provoking bees without smoke.
Silk Touch for Relocation: Use a Silk Touch-enchanted tool to break and move the entire nest/hive with bees inside. Place it in a new location – ideal for farms. Without Silk Touch, bees escape and may attack.

Use shears for honeycomb or Silk Touch to relocate entire hives safely.

>>> Also read: Where To Find Pumpkins In Minecraft And How To Farm Them?

Minecraft continues to evolve with new updates in 2025, like the Copper Age, adding more interactions. Bees enhance farms by pollinating crops, speeding growth. With community mods, the possibilities are endless.