Productive Bees is a popular Minecraft mod that expands on the vanilla bee mechanics, offering new bee types, advanced beekeeping tools, and automation possibilities.
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about the Productive Bees mod, from basic concepts to advanced techniques.
1. Introduction to Productive Bees
The Productive Bees mod enhances vanilla Minecraft’s bee mechanics while introducing new, modded aspects.
It adds several bee types, each with unique properties and products, as well as new blocks and items to facilitate advanced beekeeping.
Vanilla Bee Mechanics Recap
Before I share the complete beekeeping guide using this mod, you should know the basics of vanilla Minecraft bees:
- Bee nests spawn naturally in the wild
- Players can craft beehives for bee housing
- Bees pollinate flowers and crops during the day
- They return to their hives at night or when it’s raining
- Bees produce honey, which can be harvested with bottles or shears
- Angered bees will attack players
- Bees can be bred using flowers
Getting Started with Productive Bees
3.1 The Big Book of Bees
One of the first items you’ll want to craft is the Big Book of Bees. This guide provides in-game information about the mod’s features.
3.2 Bee Cage
Craft a bee cage using a honey bottle and wooden planks. This tool allows you to capture and transport bees easily by right-clicking on a bee to catch it and right-clicking on the ground to release it.
4. Advanced Beehives
4.1 Crafting and Features
The advanced beehive is a key block in the Productive Bees mod. To craft it, you’ll need:
- A vanilla beehive
- Shears
- A campfire
- Honeycomb
Advanced beehives offer several benefits over vanilla beehives:
- Bees won’t get aggressive when harvesting honey
- No need for silk touch to keep bees inside when moving the hive
- Automatic and passive production of honey bottles and honeycombs
- Visual indication of bee count and interactions
4.2 Expansion Boxes
Craft expansion boxes using planks and honeycomb to increase the capacity of your advanced beehives. These can be added horizontally or vertically, allowing for up to five bees per hive.
5. Centrifuge and Honey Processing
5.1 Basic Centrifuge
The centrifuge is crucial for processing honeycombs. It separates honeycombs into wax and liquid honey. The process can be sped up using upgrade items.
5.2 Powered Centrifuge
An upgraded version of the basic centrifuge, the powered centrifuge requires energy but works faster.
5.3 Heated Centrifuge
The heated centrifuge can process honeycomb blocks, making it more efficient for large-scale operations.
6. Obtaining Modded Bees
6.1 Honey Treats
Craft honey treats using honeycomb and honey bottles. These are used to spawn bees from various nest types.
6.2 Nests and Spawning
Different nest types (e.g., jungle nest, spruce nest) can be crafted or found in the world. Use honey treats on empty nests to spawn specific bee types. Some nests may require specific biomes or dimensions.
7. Breeding and Converting Bees
7.1 Manual Breeding
To breed bees manually, feed flowers to two compatible bees near each other. This will produce a child bee of a new type.
7.2 Breeding Chamber
The breeding chamber automates the breeding process. Place two parent bees in cages, add the required breeding items, and provide power to produce a child bee.
7.3 Incubation Chamber
Use the incubation chamber to grow child bees into adults. Place the child bee and honey treats in the chamber, then wait for it to mature.
7.4 Bee Conversion
Some bees can be converted by right-clicking them with specific items. For example, right-clicking a crystalline bee with a prosperity block will convert it into a prosperity bee.
8. Gene Editing and Traits
8.1 Gene Sampling
There are two methods to sample bee genes:
a) Using a bottler setup (more complex)
b) Using the pokey gene sampler upgrade in advanced beehives (easier and automated)
8.2 Gene Indexer
The gene indexer combines partial gene samples into 100% samples. Place gene samples in the indexer and apply a redstone signal to start the process.
8.3 Applying Genes
Use a crafting table to combine honey treats with 100% gene samples. These modified treats can then be used in the incubation chamber to apply specific traits to growing bees.
9. Additional Machines and Items
9.1 Catcher
The catcher automatically captures nearby bees. It can be upgraded with filters and range extenders.
9.2 Feeding Slab
A feeding slab acts as a collection point for feeding bees and can produce random items when used by certain bee types.
9.3 Honey Generator
This machine burns honey to produce power, accepting honey in various forms (bottles, blocks, buckets).
9.4 Bee Jar
Display your prized bees in bee jars for decoration.
9.5 Bee Helmet
Craft a bee helmet to make bees follow and defend you, while also preventing them from becoming aggressive.
10. Special Bee Types
10.1 Solitary Bees
These bees can be found in naturally spawning nests and include types like the ashy mining bee and blue banded bee.
10.2 Professional Bees
These bees perform specific tasks:
- Farmer Bee: Harvests nearby crops
- Rancher Bee: Shears and milks animals
- Lumber Bee: Collects wood
- Quarry Bee: Gathers stone chips
- Dye Bee: Produces dyes based on pollinated flowers
10.3 Wild Bees
Special bees with unique properties, such as:
- Draconic Bee: Lives in the End
- Ghostly Bee: Pollinates soul sand in the Nether
- Glowing Bee
- Magmatic Bee
- Slimy Bee
- Sugar Bag Bee
11. Upgrades
Various upgrades can be crafted and installed in machines to enhance their capabilities:
11.1 Productivity Upgrades
Increases bee production output. Available in Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Omega tiers.
11.2 Speed Upgrades
Increases the speed of various processes.
11.3 Range Upgrades
Extends the working range of bees and catchers.
11.4 Filter Upgrades
Allows for selective bee catching.
11.5 Simulator Upgrade
Simulates bee activity without rendering them, improving performance.
11.6 Puppy Baby Upgrade
Gives a chance for new baby bees to spawn in hives.
11.7 Anti-Teleportation Upgrade
Prevents bees from teleporting.
11.8 Upgrade Block
Changes hive output to blocks instead of honeycombs.
11.9 Pollen Sieve
Collects and deposits pollen into hives.
Tips and Tricks
- Use JEI (Just Enough Items) or REI (Roughly Enough Items) to explore recipes and bee breeding combinations.
- Automate gene sampling and processing for efficient bee trait improvements.
- Combine Productive Bees with other tech mods for advanced automation setups.
- Place a sponge under beehives to stop honey dripping.
Concluding Thoughts
After trying my hands on it, I’ve found that the Productive Bees Mod makes beekeeping in Minecraft really fun and interesting.
Using itm you get to breed new types of bees and set up automation systems that will do your countless hours of gameplay automatically.
As you get better at using the machines, upgrades, and ways to breed bees, you can build bee homes that work well and make lots of useful things. Whether you want to make your farming better, or setting up complex systems that work on their own, I’ve discovered that Productive Bees makes the complete process easy for you.
