Cross-Breeding and Cross-Pollinating: Guide to Every Bee Mutation and Flower Hybrid (v 1.0)

This guide explains how to create every bee mutation and flower hybrid, as well as include some tips and tricks for improving the chances of these hybrids occurring. (This guide currently only contains content from v 1.0. Flower mutations using butterflies from v 2.0 onwards will be added soon.)

How to Cross-Pollinate Flowers

Bees will naturally cross-pollinate the flowers that are around their hives.

Seeds can be collected from filled frames, which means that you need at least a Basic Apiary to breed flowers.

Position your apiary in an open space and plant the appropriate flowers around it. To improve your chances of getting the flower you want, remove other flowers from the area.

You can see which flowers the bees within an apiary are gathering from by clicking on the apiary, and checking the flowers icons on the right.


If you notice a flower that you would prefer wasn't being used by these bees, hover over the queen to see the radius of how far she will fly, and remove any unwanted flowers from within that circle.


Check the apiaries regularly for filled frames, and switch them for empty frames. Once you have a few, uncap those cheeky frames and see if you found the seeds you wanted!

TIP: If your home is too far away from your flower-breeding area, take a bed with you to speed up the process.

Flower Hybrids

Tier I

Honeyrose
Naturally occurring in the Archipelago
Special effects: None


Swarmwort
Naturally occurring in the Archipelago
Special effects: None


Beekeeper's Delight
Naturally occurring in the Archipelago
Special effects: None

Tier II

Honeybriar
Swarmwort x Beekeeper's Delight
Special effects: Increases the amount of produce gained


Goldenrod
Beekeeper's Delight x Honeyrose
Special effects: Increases the lifespan of queens


Beesknees
Swarmwort x Honeyrose
Special effects: Increases the amount of offspring queens have


Hivesbane
Naturally occurring in Swamp
Special effects: Increases the chance of mutations occurring


Pondshine
Naturally occurring in Swamp
Special effects: Keeps bees awake longer into the night

Tier III

Honeydrop
Naturally occurring in Tundra
Special effects: Decreases the chance of mutations occurring


Frosteria
Naturally occurring in tundra
Special effects: Increases the amount of special produce bees will fill frames with


Hivanium
Pondshine x Honeybriar
Special effects: Keeps bees awake longer into the day


Combristle
Goldenrod x Hivesbane
Special effects: Decreases the lifespan of queens


Beewell
Goldenrod x Beesknees
Special effects: Increases the amount of honey bees will fill frames with

How to Cross-Breed Bees

The Basics

When your bees are in a natural hive, they will produce Honeycomb and otherwise will not interact with each other. Once you move bees into an Apiary (or, later, a Swarmer) you can unlock cross-breeds or 'Mutations'.

To create a Mutation, you first need to create a Hybrid bee. Hybrid bees are made by creating Queens out of two types of bee. For example, you might place a Common and Forest bee into an Apiary, and they will breed to create a Common-Forest or Forest-Common hybrid.

Hybrid bees can create either of their 'base' types, another hybrid bee, or—if conditions are right—a mutation. In this example, that means a Common-Forest bee might make a Common bee, a Forest bee, a Common-Forest bee, or a Verdant bee.

Tip: Unlock Swarmers for faster bee-breeding. Queens won't create any produce in these hives but they will have more offspring!

Prepare the Space

It is important to prepare your space where you will be breeding bees. Consider factors like weather and climate, as some bees will only breed in certain conditions.

When you breed bees, they have a chance of giving each other traits. For example, breeding a Common Bee with a Rocky Bee may result in a pure Common Bee who is nocturnal (like a Rocky Bee). This means cross-breeding Swamp and Tundra bees can sometimes result in bees that need to be in a different temperature to thrive. Pay attention to this and make sure your bees are in the right climate.

Tip: You can ask the Hivemother for rain by using the Swamp Idol in a Hivemother Altar.

Think about which plants you need in the area. For breeding bees quickly, I recommend:

• Beesknees increases the amount of offspring.
  
• Hivesbane increases the chance of mutation.
  
• Combristle decreases the lifespan of queens.

Avoid:

• Honeydrop decreases chance of mutation.
  
• Goldenrod increases the lifespan of queens.

Tip: Make sure your breeding grounds are near water so you can use water-based and land-based flowers. There are two other ways to add water flowers to the area: 1) You can make Hydroponic Flower Pots using wooden planks and bottles of water (made using a Bottler) or 2) You can buy a Honeycore Shovel in the tundra and use this to terraform the landscape and create areas for water, so this will help you create the perfect breeding area later on.

This example shows a simple way to use flower pots and ponds to make sure bees are accessing the flowers you want them to use:

Bee Mutations

Tier I

Common Bee
Naturally occurring in the Archipelago


Forest Bee
Naturally occurring in the Archipelago


Verge Bee
Naturally occurring in the Archipelago


Uncommon Bee
Naturally occurring in the Archipelago

Tier II

Verdant Bee
Common x Forest
Conditions: During the day


Vibrant Bee
Common x Verge
Conditions: During the day


Drowsy Bee
Forest x Uncommon
Conditions: Dawn or dusk


Misty Bee
Verge x Forest
Conditions: Must be raining


Dream Bee
Common x Uncommon
Conditions: Must be sleeping in a bed


Murky Bee
Naturally occurring in the Swamp


Muggy Bee
Naturally occurring in the Swamp


Glowing Bee
Naturally occurring in the Swamp


Rocky Bee
Naturally occurring in the Archipelago after mining a large rock using a stone or better pickaxe

Tier III

Regal Bee
Verdant x Vibrant
Conditions: Must have Goldenrod flowers near the hive



Worker Bee
Vibrant x Misty or Vibrant x Muggy
Conditions: Must have Honeybriar flowers near the hive


Stubborn Bee
Murky x Drowsy
Conditions: Dawn or dusk


Domesticated Bee
Verdant x Drowsy
Conditions: Must place hive inside a house



Hermit Bee
Muggy x Misty or Murky x Misty
Conditions: Must be no other bees near the hive



Twilight Bee
Dream x Drowsy or Dream x Glowing
Conditions: May only be bred at dawn

Tip: You can use Hivanium to extend the waking hours of this hybrid and increase the chances of successfully breeding a Twilight bee.


Frosty Bee
Naturally occurring in the Tundra


Fiery Bee
Naturally occurring in the Tundra


Jurassic Bee
Naturally occurring in the Tundra. Hives can be found inside blocks of ice, which must be melted using a Heater.

Tier IV

Crystal Bee
Frosty x Regal
Conditions: Must be near Honeycore and during a snowstorm


Ancient Bee
Worker x Twilight
Conditions: Must increase Lifespan to maximum

Tip: Breed with a Jurassic Bee to increase base lifespan, and then increase further using Goldenrod flowers.


Bohemian Bee
Stubborn x Domesticated
Conditions: Must have 10+ unique flower species nearby


Prolific Bee
Hermit x Domesticated
Conditions: Must have six working hives nearby


Industrial Bee
Regal x Worker
Conditions: Must have three Honeycore automated machines near the hive


Chaotic Bee
Hermit x Twilight
Conditions: Must decrease Stability to minimum

Tip: Ensure your bees inherit the low Twilight bee's stability, and then lower it again using Hivesbane flowers.


Arctic Bee
Stubborn x Frosty
Conditions: Must be bred in the Tundra using a Cooler


Blazing Bee
Stubborn x Fiery
Conditions: Must be bred in the Swamp using a Heater


Empress Bee
Fiery x Regal
Conditions: Must be bred with three different smokers near the hive


Melodic Bee
Domesticated x Twilight
Conditions: Must be bred with music playing in a music player near the hive


Lightning Bee
Bred from a Hallowed Bee during a lightning storm in the Swamp region

Tip: You can use an Acclimatiser to make Hallowed Bees comfortable with rain so they are happy to breed during a storm.


Hallowed Bee
Naturally occurring on Hallowed island

Tip: To access the Hallowed island in the centre of the map, you need to complete the Guidebook and get Grandpa's axe. If you're having trouble making enough Rubees to finish the Guidebook, try making Apicola.

Tier V

Sacred Bee
There is a secret teleport location that can be accessed by selecting the gold circle under the map on the Hivemother Gate. Once there, you can place six Idols into the gate and unlock the Sacred Bee.

The six Idols include one per region (Archipelago, Swamp, Tundra, and Hallowed), one from the mysterious shopkeeper, and one from successfully breeding one of every other bee in the game.

Tier ???

Glitched Bee
Naturally occurring in the 'Glitched' area

Tip: You can randomly arrive in the 'Glitched' area while teleporting using a Hivemother Gate.