How to Get Honeycomb in Minecraft without Being Attacked

Honeycomb is a handy item in Minecraft PE and can be used to craft a number of items, including beehives. Plus, it’s incredibly easy to get. You do need to be careful when you’re harvesting them, though, since bees will attack you if you touch their honeycomb. But do not worry — we’re here to walk you through how to get honeycomb in Minecraft without being attacked. We also show you the many uses of this bee product in this guide.

Also read: Minecraft Composter Recipe and Uses You Should Know

What You Need to Get Honeycomb in Minecraft

You only really need one thing to get honeycomb in Minecraft Survival Mode: a pair of shears. But if you want to make things easier when you’re collecting the honeycomb, you’ll also need a lit campfire. We show you how to obtain these two materials in this section.

Obtaining Shears in Minecraft

A pair of shears can be generated from two iron ingots. You can obtain iron ingots by either making them from scratch or finding them in villages, strongholds, dungeons, and a number of other places. They’re normally contained in chests.

Iron ingots can be made from scratch using one of two methods. The first is by placing a block of iron in the very center of the 3×3 crafting grid, which yields nine iron ingots.

The second method involves filling the entire crafting grid with nine iron nuggets. This recipe only yields one iron ingot, so you’ll want to do this at least twice to make a pair of shears.

Once you have your two iron ingots, launch the crafting grid again. Then, place one of them in the very center and the other in the first slot of the third row of the grid, as shown in this example:

If you don’t feel like making a pair of shears from scratch, you can always just look for them in Minecraft Overworld. You’ll normally find them in shepherd’s chests in villages, but there’s only a 12.3% chance that a shepherd’s chest contains a pair of shears. If you want a guaranteed way of getting them, look for a novice-level shepherd villager, and trade two emeralds for a pair of shears.

Obtaining a Campfire in Minecraft

Just like with shears, you can obtain a campfire in Minecraft by either crafting or finding one.

To craft a campfire, you’ll need these three materials:

• 3 sticks
• 1 coal or charcoal
• 3 pieces of wood, logs, or stems

Once you have those, simply open the crafting grid. Next, place the three wood, logs, or stems all on the last row and the coal or charcoal in the very center of the grid. Then, place one stick on either side of the coal or charcoal and another on the slot directly above it.

You can also find a campfire in taiga or snowy taiga villages or in ancient cities, particularly in camps. Alternatively, if you come across an apprentice-level fisherman villager, you can try buying a campfire from them for five emeralds. However, there’s only a 50% chance that they’ll take you up on that offer.

How to Get Honeycomb in Minecraft

Getting honeycomb in Minecraft Creative Mode is a breeze, but the same can’t be said when you’re playing in Survival Mode. In this section, we walk you through how to get honeycomb in both modes of Minecraft PE.

Creative Mode

If you’re in Creative Mode, you only need to open your inventory and go to the right menu location to get a honeycomb. As with most Minecraft platforms, you’ll find honeycomb in the Nature menu if you’re playing Minecraft PE.

Survival Mode

As with anything, it takes a lot more effort to get honeycomb in Minecraft Survival Mode than it does in Creative Mode. We give you a step-by-step guide as well as some tips below.

1. Look for a Bee Nest

The first step to getting a honeycomb in Minecraft is to look for a bee nest. You will find one in plains, sunflower plains, forests, flower forests, birch forests, old-growth birch forests, or meadows — essentially, anywhere with trees and nectar. Once you’re in any of these biomes, look for either a birch tree or an oak tree that’s within two blocks of any type of flower; you might find a bee nest hanging from one of these trees.

That said, your chances of spotting a beehive hanging from a birch or an oak tree in Minecraft PE varies depending on the type of biome you’re in, as shown in this table:

tip

If you’re finding it difficult to look for a beehive, try looking for a bee instead, and follow it home. Bees are easier to spot in Minecraft since they’re more than half a block big and hang around flower patches and anywhere with plants. However, they only head home when night falls or when it’s raining. So, if you don’t want to waste time following a bee around all day just to follow it home, look for one when it’s almost sundown or when it’s about to rain.

2. Equip Your Shears

Once you’ve found a beehive, it’s now time to whip out your shears, which you’ll need to get honeycomb. To equip the shears, simply select them in the hotbar.

3. Wait for the Bee Nest to be Full

Next, you now need to wait for the bee nest to be full of honey before you can harvest any honeycomb from it. A bee nest increases its honey level by 1 every time a bee covered in pollen enters it. The bee nest has to reach a honey level of 5 for it to be full of honey and ready for harvesting. You’ll know it has reached the maximum level when you see honey oozing out of the bee nest. In most cases, you’ll also see honey particles dripping out of the bee nest.

4. Prevent Bee Attacks (Optional)

Even in the world of Minecraft, bees can get pretty aggressive, especially when you’re getting something of theirs. When you harvest honeycomb, all the bees inside of it will attack you, giving you the Poison effect. Although this effect only lasts 10 to 18 seconds and won’t kill you, it can still be fatal if you don’t have that much health left.

So, how do you get honeycomb in Minecraft without being attacked? One way is to place a lit campfire below the bee nest so that the smoke coming from it will effectively calm the bees. However, keep in mind that bees can take fire damage if they get too close to it, which you wouldn’t want if you’re planning to adopt them.

To avoid killing bees with your lit campfire, make sure to place it four to five blocks below the bee nest. If the tree isn’t tall enough (or if the bee nest is too close to the ground), you can dig a hole in the ground to allow for that much space. Then, place the campfire in it. Make sure that the space between the campfire and the nest is, at most, only five blocks. Otherwise, the smoke won’t reach the nest and the bees will sting you when you get honeycomb from their hive.

5. Collect the Honeycombs

Once you have your campfire ready and you see the signal that the bee nest is full, you can now use your shears to get honeycombs from it. In Minecraft PE, you can do so simply by tapping and holding on to the bee nest. Also, make sure to pick up the honeycombs that dropped from the nest before they disappear. One bee nest with a honey level of 5 gives you three honeycombs.

What to Make with Honeycomb in Minecraft

Now that you have honeycomb in your inventory, you can use them for a variety of purposes in Minecraft. Below, we show you different honeycomb crafting recipes you can use in the game.

1. Beehives

Honeycombs in Minecraft are mostly used for building beehives. Beehives are the crafted (or player-made) versions of Minecraft bee nests, which are only naturally generated.

To craft a beehive in Minecraft, you’ll need three honeycombs and six planks of any kind and in any combination. Once you have those items, launch the 3×3 crafting grid, and fill the middle row’s slots with honeycombs. Then, in the remaining six slots above and below the honeycombs, place the six planks. Take a look at this example:

After that, you’ll see a beehive in the output slot next to the crafting grid. Simply drag the beehive to the inventory.

2. Honeycomb Blocks

You can also use honeycombs to make a honeycomb block, which, in turn, you can use to build machines or decorate a building, among many others.

You only need four honeycombs to craft one honeycomb block. Then, simply launch the crafting grid, and place two honeycombs in the first two slots of the first row. Next, place the remaining two honeycombs in the first two slots of the second row.

Afterward, move the output honeycomb block to any of your character’s storage slots.

3. Candles

You can also make candles out of honeycombs and pieces of string in Minecraft. Candles can be used mainly as a light source, but you can also place them on top of an uneaten cake to create a candle cake.

To craft a candle, launch the 3×3 crafting grid. Then, place one honeycomb in the very center of the grid and one piece of string in the slot directly above it.

If you want to make more candles, simply repeat the whole process.

4. Waxed Copper Blocks

Lastly, you can also use honeycombs to wax copper blocks, which effectively stops them from oxidizing. This not only preserves their original color but also allows you to still craft them back into copper ingots should you need to.

Besides copper blocks, you can also wax copper slabs and stairs using honeycomb in Minecraft.

To wax a copper block, slab, or set of stairs, open the 3×3 crafting grid and place it in the first slot of the second row. Then, place one honeycomb in the second slot of the second row, as in this example:

Can You Craft Honeycomb in Minecraft?

Unfortunately, there’s no way to craft honeycomb in Minecraft. And, unlike other items (like iron and copper blocks), you can’t craft honeycomb blocks back into a honeycomb. You can only obtain this item by harvesting it from bee nests or beehives.

However, you can use beehives (which you can craft from honeycombs, as we’ve shown you previously) to build a bee farm in Minecraft. That way, you won’t have to venture out into plains, meadows, and other flowery biomes just to get honeycomb and other bee products.

When to Harvest Honeycomb in Minecraft

There’s no specific time of day or weather condition that you should wait for before you can harvest honeycomb in Minecraft. Honeycomb is available all year round in the game.

However, you can’t get a honeycomb right after finding a bee nest in the plains, forests, or other biomes where bees roam. As we mentioned, you’ll need to wait for the bee nest to be full before you can harvest honeycomb in Minecraft.

Can You Eat Minecraft Honeycomb?

Unlike honey bottles and honey blocks, you can’t eat honeycomb in Minecraft. This item can only be used as a crafting ingredient and for waxing copper blocks, slabs, and stairs.

Get Crafting with Honeycomb

Honeycomb is an extremely useful crafting ingredient. It’s handy for making beehives (which you can build a bee farm with), candles, and honeycomb blocks. You can also use it to wax copper items to keep them from oxidizing.

Getting honeycomb in Minecraft is also incredibly easy. You only need a pair of shears and a bee nest full of honey, and your inventory will be brimming with honeycombs in no time. Keep in mind, though, that bees will definitely attack you when you take their precious honeycomb. Luckily, as we’ve shown in this guide, this can be avoided by following the specified instructions.