49/49 Social Bees

A guide for discovering all of the social bees in version Crystallum 4.2.1.

Introduction

This is one of a series of guides for 104% completion of the current version of APICO (4.2.1). This specific guide covers the requirements for unlocking all 49 social bees.

My other APICO guides:
Solitary Bees
Butterflies
Flowers
Fish

FAQ

What is this Chance stat you have listed for all the bees?

To bee perfectly honest, I don't know. "Chance" is a hidden stat that I found listed in the game files for bees, butterflies, flowers, and fish, but I have not been able to figure out exactly how it's used in the game. For social bees, my guess would be it affects how likely you are to get that particular species in the Queen's offspring for species that are discovered via cross-breeding, perhaps something along the lines of the game rolling a d100 for every offspring and making that offspring the new species if it rolls below the Chance number. But that's just a guess. I have included the numbers because, at the very least, they do seem useful as an indicator of rarity even if I don't know exactly how they're being used.

Do I need it to be raining/nighttime/alive with the sound of music for the entire time my Queen is alive in order to find a new species in her offspring?

No. For all cross-bred bee species that require an additional condition be fulfilled, the condition only needs to be true at the time that the cross-bred Queen's lifespan runs out. (E.g. if you're cross-breeding for a bee species that requires a certain flower be nearby, you only need to put a flower down right before the Queen dies and creates her offspring. The flower does not need to be present for her whole lifespan.) This is especially relevant for creating a Dream Bee, where you can just hop into bed a few seconds before the Queen dies.

I can't get a new species to appear in my cross-bred Queen's offspring.

If you are having difficulty successfully obtaining a cross-bred species in your offspring (and you're sure all the necessary conditions are fulfilled), try the following:

• Creating the queen from two bees with lower stability (the fourth/blue trait);
  
• Planting Hivesbane, Ashthorn, and/or Claybriar flowers nearby, which will reduce the stability trait even further;
  
• Ensuring there are no rogue Honeydrop or Tidewort flowers nearby, as they increase stability;
  
• Using the Hallowed Idol to pray to the Hivemother for a higher chance of mutation in offspring for the next five minutes (real time, not in-game minutes).

Can I affect a Queen's traits with flowers midway through her lifespan?

If using flowers to raise or lower Queen traits, make sure to place the flowers before placing the Queen in the hive. (If you place new stat-affecting flowers while the Queen is already working, you can remove and replace the Queen in the same hive to "update" her traits, but be aware that this will reset her lifespan timer.)

I'm running out of flowers/sawdust bricks trying to keep all these Grumpy Queens happy.

If you're cross-breeding a Grumpy bee and a non-Grumpy bee, make sure that the non-Grumpy bee is placed in the first slot and the Grumpy bee in the second slot. This increases the chances of the resulting Queen not having the Grumpy trait. (This is also true of other undesirable traits such as climate preferences and desirable traits such as rain-loving and snow-loving — always place a bee with desirable traits in the first slot and undesirable traits in the second slot.)

Tier 1

Common Bee
Given to you at the start of the game as the first quest reward. Can also be found in naturally spawned hives in the Forest biome.
Chance: 100


Forest Bee
Can be found in naturally spawned hives in the Forest biome.
Chance: 100


Verge Bee
Can be found in naturally spawned hives at the edge of the water in the Forest biome.
Chance: 100


Uncommon Bee
Can be found in a naturally spawned hive in the eastern part of the Forest biome, close to the Hivemother Gate.
Chance: 100

Tier 2

Verdant Bee
Cross-breed a Common Bee and a Forest Bee during the daytime.
Chance: 40


Vibrant Bee
Cross-breed a Common Bee and a Verge Bee during the daytime.
Chance: 38


Drowsy Bee
Cross-breed a Common Bee and a Forest Bee during dawn or dusk.
Chance: 35


Misty Bee
Cross-breed a Forest Bee and a Verge Bee while it's raining.
Chance: 32


Dream Bee
Cross-breed a Common and an Uncommon Bee, making sure that the Queen's lifespan runs out while you're sleeping in a Bed. Since sleeping does not speed up the Queen's lifetime cycle, it's recommended that you wait until the Queen only has a few seconds left in her lifespan before hopping in bed and waiting until you see the icon appear on the hive that indicates her cycle has finished.
Chance: 30


Murky Bee
Can be found naturally in the Swamp biome. They have the Grumpy trait so you will either need to break the hive with a hammer or calm the bees down by placing a Smoker within range of the hive.
Chance: 100


Muggy Bee
Can be found naturally in the waters of the Swamp biome.
Chance: 100


Glowing Bee
Can be found naturally in the Swamp biome, in hives that glow during dawn and dusk.
Chance: 100


Rocky Bee
Can be found by breaking open the large rocks in the Forest biome with a Stone Pickaxe.
Chance: 100


Coral Bee
Can be found naturally in hives on the Red Ruby Coral Reef (northwest of the Hallows biome).
Chance: 100


Custodian Bee
Can be found naturally in hives on the Green Emerald Coral Reef (southwest of the Hallows biome).
Chance: 100


Artisan Bee
Can be found naturally in hives on the Yellow Topaz Coral Reef (east of the Hallows biome).
Chance: 100

Tier 3

Regal Bee
Cross-breed a Verdant Bee and a Vibrant Bee near a Goldenrod flower.
Chance: 25


Worker Bee
Cross-breed a Vibrant Bee and a Misty Bee near a Honeybriar flower.
Chance: 24


Stubborn Bee
Cross-breed a Drowsy Bee and a Murky Bee during dawn or dusk.
Chance: 22


Domesticated Bee
Cross-breed a Verdant Bee and a Drowsy Bee inside a house (at least 10 wall tiles).
Chance: 23


Hermit Bee
Cross-breed a Misty Bee and a Murky Bee together without any other active hives nearby. Murky Bees have the Grumpy trait, so make sure that the Misty Bee is placed in the first slot and the Murky Bee in the second slot rather than the other way around (creating a Misty-Murky Bee, as opposed to a Murky-Misty Bee).
Chance: 25


Twilight Bee
Cross-breed a Drowsy Bee and a Dream Bee during dawn.
Chance: 25


Calcified Bee
Cross-breed a Rocky Bee and a Coral Bee on a coral reef (hive has to be on top of a coral tile).
Chance: 36


Prismatic Bee
Cross-breed a Dream bee and an Artisan Bee during the night on a coral reef (hive has to be on top of a coral tile).
Chance: 32


Abyssal Bee
Can be found naturally underwater by diving near the Red Ruby Coral Reef (northwest of the Hallows biome). You must purchase a Diving Helmet from Bumblemore and restore the reef in order to access the diving spot.
Chance: 42


Rusted Bee
Can be found naturally underwater by diving near the Yellow Topaz Coral Reef (southwest of the Hallows biome). You must purchase a Diving Helmet from Bumblemore and restore the reef in order to access the diving spot.
Chance: 100


Frosty Bee
Can be found naturally in the Tundra biome.
Chance: 100


Fiery Bee
Can be found naturally in the Tundra biome. They have the Grumpy trait so you will either need to break the hive with a hammer or calm the bees down by placing a Smoker within range of the hive.
Chance: 100


Jurassic Bee
Can be found naturally in frozen blocks of ice the Tundra biome. Use a Heater (purchased from Dr. Beenjamin BhD) near a frozen hive to thaw the ice.
Chance: 100


Fragile Bee
Found by breaking a large Honeycore stalagmite with a Crystal Hammer. Purchase a Crystal Workbench, Forge, Resonator, Apicobalt Hammer, and 3 Apicobalt Ingots from Bobbee. Create Liquid Crystal by feeding Honeycore crystals to the Forge. Use the Liquid Crystal with the Resonator while in the Hivemother's Dream to create Dreamite. Craft a Crystal Hammer at the Crystal Workbench and use the hammer to break a Honeycore stalagmite (naturally found in the Tundra and Hallows biomes).
Chance: 100


Candycane Bee
Found randomly by breaking presents scattered throughout the world during the Hivemas seasonal event. The event takes place during December, but can also be activated through the game's Accessibility menu.
Chance: 100


Imposter Bee
Found randomly in hives where a queen of any other species has finished her cycle during the Hallowbeen seasonal event. The Imposter bee will appear in the queen slot of the hive UI, meaning the symbol that usually appears over a hive to indicate a queen has finished her cycle will not appear. The event takes place during October, but can also be activated through the game's Accessibility menu.
Chance: 100

Tier 4

Crystal Bee
Cross-breed a Regal Bee and a Frosty Bee in the Tundra biome near Honeycore and while it's snowing (i.e. at the same time that it's raining in the Forest biome).
Chance: 20


Ancient Bee
Cross-breed a Twilight Bee and a Worker Bee to create a Queen that has 7 Lifespan. This will likely require some preliminary cross-breeding to create Twilight Bees and Worker Bees with as high a Lifespan as possible. A Queen that doesn't quite have 7 Lifespan can have her Lifespan boosted by nearby Goldenrod and Saltwave flowers. (Make sure there are no flowers that decrease Lifespan nearby.)
Chance: 24


Bohemian Bee
Cross-breed a Domesticated Bee and a Stubborn Bee (grumpy) near 10 different types of flowers.
Chance: 17


Prolific Bee
Cross-breed a Domesticated and a Hermit Bee (grumpy) near 6 other active hives. Make sure there are 6 hives active at the time that the Queen produces her offspring. Populating the other hives with Queens that have long lifespans can help with this.
Chance: 21


Industrial Bee
Cross-breed a Regal Bee and a Worker Bee near at least 3 Honeycore machines (purchased from Bobbee in the Tundra Biome).
Chance: 17


Chaotic Bee
Cross-breed a Twilight Bee and a Hermit Bee (grumpy) to create a Queen that has 1 Stability. This will likely require some preliminary cross-breeding to create Twilight Bees and Hermit Bees with as low Stability as possible. A Queen that doesn't quite have 1 Stability can have the trait further lowered by nearby Hivesbane, Ashthorn, and Claybriar flowers. (Make sure there are no flowers that increase Lifespan nearby.)
Chance: 16


Arctic Bee
Cross-breed a Frosty Bee and a Stubborn Bee (grumpy) in the Tundra biome AND with a Cooler running nearby (purchased from Dr. Beenjamin BhD).
Chance: 19


Blazing Bee
Cross-breed a Fiery Bee (grumpy) and a Stubborn Bee (grumpy) in the Swamp biome AND with a Heater running nearby (purchased from Dr. Beenjamin BhD). Both these bee species have the Grumpy trait, so the resulting Queen will need to be calmed unless you've bred the trait out already.
Chance: 16


Empress Bee
Cross-breed a Regal Bee and a Fiery Bee (grumpy) near 3 active Smokers (purchased from Dr. Beenjamin BhD) that are each emitting a different scent.
Chance: 15


Melodic Bee
Cross-breed a Domesticated Bee and a Twilight Bee near an active Jukebox (purchased from Mothense). Since the Jukebox automatically switches tracks once the current one ends, you can simply leave the Jukebox playing the entire time.
Chance: 18


Lightning Bee
Place a Hallowed Bee in a hive in the Swamp biome and wait (or pray to the Hivemother) for rain. When it rains in the Swamp biome, there is a chance that lightning will strike and a chance that the lightning will turn the Hallowed Bee into a Lightning Bee.
Chance: 100


Hallowed Bee
Can be found in naturally spawned hives in the Hallows biome.
Chance: 100


Luminous Bee
Cross-breed an Abyssal Bee and a Rusted Bee underwater near sea lanterns and during the daytime. You must purchase a Diving Helmet from Bumblemore and restore each nearby reef in order to access diving spots. Sea lanterns can also be purchased from Bumblemore from his rotating selection of items or looted from underwater crates.
Chance: 24


Forgotten Bee
Cross-breed an Abyssal Bee and a Rusted Bee underwater away from any sources of light and during the night. You must purchase a Diving Helmet from Bumblemore and restore each nearby reef in order to access diving spots.
Chance: 20


Primordial Bee
Can be found in naturally spawned hives in the underwater cave near the Yellow Topaz Coral Reef. You must restore the reef in order to access the diving spot to get underwater and then clean up all the sludge of that section of the ocean floor in order to access the diving spot that takes you to the cave.
Chance: 100

Tier 5

Sacred Bee
Obtained by placing all six Idols in the Hivemother Shrine in the Hivemother's Dream location. The Hivemother's Dream is unlocked by unlocking the four Hivemother Gates in the main world, one in each Biome. Four of the Idols can be found in Shrines next to the Gates, the fifth can be purchased from the Merchant that spawns at night, and the sixth can be obtained as a reward for completing the Apiarist's Almanac.
Chance: 100


Emissary Bee
Cross-breed a Primordial Bee and a Crystal Bee in one of the underwater caves near a Honeycore crystal.
Chance: 16


Glitched Bee
Can be found in naturally spawned hives in the Dev's Hideout location. (After unlocking three Hivemother Gates, the player has a chance of teleporting to and permanently unlocking the Dev's Hideout when using a Gate to teleport.)
Chance: 100

[HoshiGiniro]

it says Rocky and Coral Bees make Calcified bees but i cant seem to get it to pop off do you know the secret?

[Rene]

It should be fine as long as the hive is outside the circle of light emitted by any light sources, i.e. in darkness. Make sure the Queen is nocturnal so that her offspring get produced at night. You can also place some flowers that decrease stability nearby.

[livia >.<]

how far does it have to be away from light to make the forgotten bee? i literally cannot do that one

[TheStealerOfJ's]

Note to anyone going for the chaotic bee type, I believe the only way to get a level 1 in stability on a bee before getting the chaotic bee is to get lucky with the glitched bee.