Stardew Valley Bee Houses: How Do They Work & Are They Worth It?

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A Bee House is a craftable object that makes Honey, and you’ll unlock this recipe at level 3 Farming.

But aside from crafting your own bee house, you can also get one by completing the Fall Crops Bundle. This is located in the Community Center, and the bundle specifically requires:

  • x1 Corn
  • x1 Eggplant
  • x1 Pumpkin
  • x1 Yam

Since the bundle is a one-time thing, you’re generally better off crafting your own houses if you want a lot of them.

 

How To Craft A Bee House:

Here’s the materials needed to create your own Bee House:

  • x40 pieces of Wood
  • x8 Coal
  • x1 Iron Bar
  • x1 Maple Syrup
 
Trees with Tappers at the Quarry Screenshot / OSRS
 

Pictured Above: Trees with Tappers at the Quarry, you can differentiate Maples from Oaks by the leaves’ size. Maple tree leaves look bigger by comparison. When in doubt, shake them and look for a Maple Seed!

Probably the trickiest ingredient from that list is Maple Syrup – which you can get from a Maple Tree using a Tapper (Foraging level 3), or buy it from the Traveling Cart on Fridays or Sundays if available.

To get it, simply put the Tapper on a Maple Tree and wait 9 nights to collect.

Be careful not to hit the Maple Tree with a Tool, because if the Tapper falls out, it resets the process.

 

Using A Bee House To Get Honey

By placing a Bee House on your farm it’ll produce Wild Honey.

It takes at least 4 nights to make the Honey, and this works from spring to fall (so just not in winter). But on Ginger Island, you can produce Honey all year round.

You can also place your Bee House in the village, but be careful not to put it in any NPC’s paths, since they’ll destroy it!

TIP: putting a Bee House inside a building or cave won’t make any Honey.

 

Types of Flower Honey:

A Bee House’s Honey can be influenced by Flowers.

The Honey produced will change its name according to the Flower planted nearby.

The flowers are:

  • Tulip and Blue Jazz in Spring
  • Summer Spangle and Poppy in Summer
  • Sunflower in both Summer and Fall
  • Fairy Rose in Fall
 
Flowers distanced around a Bee House, forming a diamond shape / OSRS
 

The area that influences the Honey is 5 tiles in all cardinal directions, creating a diamond shape.

To get an actual effect like this, a Flower must be in full bloom, planted in tilled soil (not in a garden pot), and within 5 tiles from a Bee House.

Also, Foragable Flowers don’t work on Honey.

And be sure to not pick up the flowers before collecting the Honey, or it’ll turn back to Wild Honey.

With that said, your Bee House can produce a total of 6 different Honeys:

  • Tulip Honey
  • Blue Jazz Honey
  • Summer Spangle Honey
  • Poppy Honey
  • Sunflower Honey
  • Fairy Rose Honey

Your Bee House will adjust the Honey you get based on the closest flower.

Or if you have multiple different flowers within the same distance, then it’ll start from the flower located to the very left of the Bee House & go clockwise.

 

Is Honey Worth It?

Yes it’s worth getting, but mostly for a few purposes:

  • Selling for gold
  • Making Mead
  • Crafting a Warp Totem

Honey is an ingredient for crafting the Warp Totem: Farm – which is a consumable teleport that leaves you back in the Farm, unlocked at Foraging level 8.

Warp Totems are life saviors when digging through The Mines. So if you do that a lot, yes it can be worth it.

Or if you want to make gold, you can sell Honey for profit. Check out the prices:

Honey Type Regular Sale Price Artisan Profession Sale Price (40%+)
Wild Honey, no flower 100g 140g
Tulip Honey 160g 224g
Blue Jazz Honey 200g 280g
Summer Spangle Honey 280g 392g
Poppy Honey 380g 532g
Sunflower Honey 260g 364g
Fairy Rose Honey 680g 952g

If you’re selling for profit, then Fairy Rose Honey is the best to farm & sell for riches.

You can also place Honey in a Keg to make Mead, which takes 10 hours, but be mindful of the difference in value.

Here’s what you can earn for your Mead:

Mead Quality Regular Sale Price Artisan Profession Sale Price (40%+)
Regular Mead 200g 280g
Silver Mead 250g 350g
Gold Mead 300g 420g
Iridium Mead 400g 560g

From the table above, you can see that it’s only worth creating Mead with these 3 types of Honey:

  • Wild Honey
  • Tulip Honey
  • Blue Jazz Honey

Using any other kind of Honey can basically decrease your total profit.

Or you can also choose to age Mead in a Cask to reach Iridium quality Mead. This takes 7 days from regular quality to silver quality, then 7 more days to get to gold quality, and 14 days from there to reach iridium quality – a total of 28 days.

Whether that’s worth the effort is up to you!

 

Other Uses For Honey

Everybody likes Honey in the village except for Maru and Sebastian.

And Mead is a great gift for Willy and Pam.

So either of these can work as decent gifts for various villagers.

Honey is inedible in Stardew, but you can drink Mead, which restores your health and energy – but gives you a debuff “Tipsy” which hits you with -1 Speed for 30 seconds.

Also, some fish may ask for Honey as a Fish Pond Quest. So it’s worth saving some just for this occasion.

You can use Honey on a Sewing Machine and get a Yellow Skirt. Or you can use Mead to get a cool Black Leather Jacket.

But if you’re not big into clothes, then the best use for a Bee House (and Honey/Mead) is either for recipes or for profit.

 
“Livin’ Off the Land” TV show in summer, giving a hint about Flower Honeys / OSRS
 
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