Honeycomb in Minecraft is one of the harder resources to get. You can only get some from Beehives that are full, however, the Bees guarding their hive can make this difficult. Thankfully, there are ways around these issues.
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How to Collect Honeycomb From Beehives
Before you try to harvest Honeycomb from a Beehive, you should know that Beehives can only drop Honeycomb when they are full. An empty Beehive (pictured above), will not yield any Honeycomb. A full Beehive will have yellow honey slightly coming out of its holes. When you see this visual change, you can begin to collect Honeycomb. If you harvest a Beehive when it’s full, you will get 3 Honeycomb.
What Tool You Need to Get Honeycomb From Beehives
You’ll need to use Shears to harvest Honeycomb from Beehives. No other tool will allow you to collect Honeycomb, and will instead break a Beehive. If you break a Beehive with most tools or your empty hand, it will drop nothing (except when using tools enchanted with Silk Touch). Worse yet, the Bees that were inside will appear and start attacking you for destroying their home.
If you need to make a pair of Shears, all you’ll need is 2 Iron Ingots. Simply place the ingots diagonally to one another in any kind of crafting grid.
Using a Campfire to Keep the Bees Calm
Even if you wait until a Beehive is full and then use Shears on it, the Bees will still get very upset if you collect Honeycomb. To avoid dealing with the angry Bees (who will poison you for 10 seconds with each of their attacks), you can use a Campfire.
To use the smoke from a Campfire to keep the Bees in a hive calm, place the Campfire 1 block below the Beehive. Do not put the Campfire directly under the Beehive, as the smoke needs 1 full block of vertical space to activate properly. After doing so, you can use your Shears on the Beehive to get Honeycomb without needing to deal with angry Bees.
How to Use a Dispenser to Get Honeycomb From Beehives
There is another trick that you can use to get Honeycomb without dealing with angry Bees. You can place a Dispenser next to a Beehive to automate the Honeycomb-gathering. If you place a pair of Shears into a Dispenser, it will collect the Honeycomb for you! This method will not aggravate the Bees in the hive. After being harvested, the Honeycomb will drop from the Dispenser onto the ground.
To make a Dispenser, you will need a Bow, 7 Cobblestone, and 1 Redstone Dust. Place the Bow on the middle slot of a Crafting Table and then put the Redstone Dust under it. Following that, fill the rest of the slots with Cobblestone to get a Dispenser.
What Honeycomb Is Used for
There are 4 main uses for Honeycomb in Minecraft. Firstly, you can use 3 Honeycomb and 6 Wood Planks to make a Beehive. To do so, place the 3 Honeycomb on the middle row of a Crafting Table and then fill the rest of the slots with Wood Planks. The Wood Planks can be from any type of wood–different kinds of planks can be used together as well. After you place a new Beehive, you can hold a flower in your hand to lure Bees to it. This would be the best way to start a Bee farm.
Another use for Honeycomb is in making Candles. You can place 1 Honeycomb in any kind of crafting grid before placing 1 String on top of it to make 1 Candle. These small cylinders can be used for decorative and lightning purposes.
By putting 4 Honeycomb onto a Crafting Table in a square formation, you can make a Honeycomb block, which can be helpful for storing large amounts of Honeycomb. You can also use them decoratively, as they are aesthetically pleasing and have a unique texture.
Lastly, you can use Honeycomb to “wax” Copper blocks. By placing a Copper block next to 1 Honeycomb in any kind of crafting grid, you can coat the Copper block in a thin film. This will result in you getting a “waxed” block of Copper, which will prevent it from oxidizing. Oxidization is what causes Copper to change color over time, so, if you want to prevent this, wax your blocks with Honeycomb. You can do this with any kind of block made from Copper, including slabs and stairs. As such, if you plan to use Copper a lot in building, you can wax certain blocks for some nice yet subtle designs.
