Renewable Bee Hive Harvesting

[Crysta]

I often focus on a lot on renewability so want to suggest a change to the bee hives skeps deleting the clay from the recipe.
I think it might be nice if you got the clay back or/and also could hollow out a log to use as a hive instead. Having both could give multiple cosmetic options for beekeeping which is nice.
It just feels unrealistic for the clay to just get erased completely.

[Syrdiman]

I'm surprised this hasn't been implemented already.

[Thorfinn]

An improved version is in the excellent From Golden Combs mod.

Edited June 3, 2025 by Thorfinn

[Maelstrom]

On 6/1/2025 at 10:58 PM, Crysta said:

It just feels unrealistic for the clay to just get erased completely.

Ummmm.... ok?  Considering the clay becomes hardened/baked in the sun means that it's as resuable as much as a broken coffee mug.  Additionally, you only get a small portion of the 16 reeds back when a skep is broken.  The current mechanic makes a lot of sense... to me.

[GermanicusGoosicus]

Why not just have modern day beehive as well so you don't have to break the whole thing just another more advanced hive that allows bigger bee pops and more honey.

 

[Thorfinn]

On 6/15/2025 at 10:34 AM, GermanicusGoosicus said:

Why not just have modern day beehive as well so you don't have to break the whole thing just another more advanced hive that allows bigger bee pops and more honey.

 

From Golden Combs gives you Langstroth boxes, which is what you are talking about, I think. But have you tried out vanilla beekeeping yet? It is absurdly easy to produce vastly more honey and wax than you can possibly use.

[Bruno Willis]

On 6/5/2025 at 2:19 AM, Maelstrom said:

Ummmm.... ok?  Considering the clay becomes hardened/baked in the sun means that it's as resuable as much as a broken coffee mug.  Additionally, you only get a small portion of the 16 reeds back when a skep is broken.  The current mechanic makes a lot of sense... to me.

I think the issue is that I don't associate bee keeping with mining, but sometimes I have to go dig up a bunch of clay to make new skeps. It feels a bit odd.

I would also like alternative, longer term options for bee keeping, or even to use excess wax instead of clay as an alternative recipe for the existing skeps.

[Bennett Harnisch]

Serious proposal for beekeeping expansion, adding two items to the game:

Bee box - Higher-tech alternative to skeps. Crafted with planks, and consists of two interactable "frames". Once placed, the player must fill the frames by re-investing a small amount of beeswax to act as a foundation for the bees to build on (this also means players can't skip making skeps, and skeps would still be the only way to transport live bees). Once the frames are populated and harvestable, interacting with them will harvest the honeycomb from that frame, and the process can begin again. Bees will still have a chance to swarm and attack, as normal. 

Smoker - High tech beekeeping tool. Crafted from metal plates and a bellows (I believe bellows are already planned for a future update to the forge). Must be fueled with dry grass and ignited. Once ignited, it will begin releasing a thin trail of smoke particles from the spout. When held and used, it will emit puffs of large smoke particles. Upon touching a skep or bee box, the smoke will guarantee(?) that the bees will not swarm if you harvest from that block within a short period of time. 

Also worth saying, there could be a special set of late game beekeeping clothing/armor, which would make the player immune to bee swarm damage while worn. I've seen the Nadiyan beekeeper set in the handbook, but I have no idea if it is actually attainable or functional. 

[Topminator]

yeah, a wooden beehive that drops itself locked behind a steel saw maybe, make it unmovable though so you need the reed one to bring back home the bees.

and then quadruple the cost for the reed one.

[ArgentLuna]

They could well do that. In the meantime From Golden Combs is a great mod if you want better beehives

[Bennett Harnisch]

8 hours ago, Topminator said:

a wooden beehive that drops itself locked behind a steel saw maybe,

Probably makes sense to put it behind a certain tier of nails, like iron nails, if they don't want people to be able to craft them in the copper or bronze ages.