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One of the best things about Stardew Valley is the wide range of different tools and equipment available, allowing you to immersive yourself in many of the delights that the farming world has to offer. Although it's been around for a while, Stardew Valley keeps selling quite successfully across all platforms.

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Placing bee houses on your farm allows you to collect their honey during almost every season of the year. You can harvest honey during Spring, Summer, and Fall. There is plenty to learn about bee houses and the honey they produce, so keep reading to find out everything there is to know. The better you understand the game's items and their mechanics, the easier it'll be to maximize your profits.

Updated April 18, 2023: Bee houses are a handy tool to have on your farm in Stardew Valley. We've updated this guide all about them to present the information as clearly as possible.

How To Unlock The Bee House

bee house recipes farming skill level 3

Before you can harvest any honey, you need to be able to build a bee house first. You will unlock the bee house recipe once you reach Farming Level 3. You can then build your own bee houses.

To build a bee house, you're going to need a handful of ingredients:

  • 40 Wood;
  • 8 Coal;
  • 1 Iron Bar;
  • and 1 Maple Syrup.

It can be difficult to get all the items to craft numerous bee houses, especially in the early game when they're also needed for getting other equipment.

If you've chosen the Community Center restoration route, you'll be awarded a bee house when you complete the Fall Crops Bundle in the building's Pantry room.

Best Flowers For Honey

Fairy Rose Honey Stardew Valley

The point of having bee houses on your farm is to be able to make some profit off of what they produce: honey. There are different types of honey in the game — Wild Honey and Flower Honey. The latter will further depend on the type of flower you have near the bee house.

Flower Honey will always be more profitable than regular Wild Honey.

Here are all the types of Flower Honey, how much you can sell them for, and which season each flower will grow in.

Season

Flower

Selling Price

Spring

Blue Jazz

200g

Tulip

160g

Summer

Poppy

380g

Summer Spangle

280g

Sunflower

260g

Fall

Fairy Rose

680g

Sunflower

260g

The flowers listed above are the only ones that will provide different types of Flower Honey.

The Sweet Pea and the Crocus won't because, although they are considered flowers, they are also considered forageable items.

Wild Honey is available all year round (except Winter) but it's only worth 100g.

You can sell all Artisan Goods in the game for an extra 40 percent of its base price if you choose the Artisan Profession when you get to Level 10 of the Farming Skill.

It makes honey a much more profitable product — especially Fairy Rose Honey, which is already worth 680g at base price. With the Artisan Profession, it will sell for 952g.

Honey takes between three and four days to process. You can also take advantage of Ginger Island and collect Honey all year round, even in the Winter.

Where To Place Bee Houses

bee house placement stardew valley

A bee house can produce Flower Honey if it is within five tiles of a fully-grown flower. The zoning works in the same way as scarecrows.

If there is more than one type of flower within five tiles, the priority is set on the flower that's closest to the bee house. If they've been placed at an equal distance, the priority is set on the flower on the horizontal left and then the next clockwise flower.

Beware that flowers grown in garden pots won't work when it comes to producing Flower Honey. You have to plant them on tilled land.

You can technically put bee houses indoors, but you won't be producing any honey that way, so don't waste Greenhouse space with them. Anywhere outdoors works, even beyond the farm.

Feel free to place them in the Secret Woods, the Beach, the Desert, and all kinds of other places. As long as you don't disturb villager paths, your bee houses will be safe, and you shouldn't have to worry about them being destroyed.

Tips For Harvesting Honey

There are a few things that you should pay attention to when it comes to harvesting honey — otherwise, your precious Fairy Rose Flower Honey might turn into Wild Honey again. Pay close attention to the following:

  • Harvest the honey before the flower — don't harvest the flower that's providing your Flower Honey before you collect the honey in the bee house. If the flower is harvested beforehand, the honey will turn into Wild Honey.
  • Harvest the honey before you remove the bee house — don't remove a bee house with a tool if it has already produced some kind of Flower Honey. Doing this will make it so that the bee house will go into your inventory, as will the honey. However, it'll turn into Wild Honey.

NEXT: Stardew Valley: A Guide To The Mysterious Qi Quest