Beehive

Beehive is a Timberborn building that houses bees and provides a powerful passive growth boost to nearby crops while also posing a small well-being penalty to living Foresters who enter its range. Beehives can be placed on structures (they are no longer ground-only) and project their effect over a 7×7 column area; this vertical reach means they can affect buildings, paths, and ziplines placed above or below the hive as well as ground tiles. Beehives were introduced in the Early Access launch and were changed in Update 6 to allow non-ground placement.

Beehives apply an instant growth boost to up to three crops every two in-game hours. Each boost shortens crop growth time substantially—the aggregate boost rate is approximately 43%, which translates to about a 30% reduction in growth time for crops in range. Boosted crops receive an instant gain and then enter a 24-hour cooldown during which they cannot be boosted again. Because Beehives target three crops per tick, a single Beehive can effectively support up to 39 crops before its effect begins to dilute across too many targets; overlapping Beehive coverage redistributes boosts automatically, so overlapping fields do not waste boosts. Practically, a crop directly under a single Beehive experiences an effective 26-hour interval between boosts due to the hive's 2-hour tick combined with the crop's 24-hour cooldown.

The growth-time reductions vary by crop — for example, carrots and sunflowers see roughly 31–33% shorter growth times (yielding ~46–48% extra effective yield per tile over time), while longer-cycle crops such as wheat and spadderdock see slightly smaller percentage reductions (about 28–32%), but still provide a large effective increase in throughput.

Beehives cause a minor negative well-being effect to Foresters (living workers) who enter their 7×7 range because of bee stings. This penalty is small but should be considered when placing hives near housing, workstations, or pedestrian routes. Bots are immune to bee stings and can be used as farmers to avoid the well-being penalty while still benefiting from the growth boost. When planning base layouts, take care that Beehive coverage does not overlap crucial roads, ziplines, or densely occupied buildings if you want to minimize human worker discomfort.

• Place Beehives to cover concentrated crop plots up to about 39 tiles per hive for maximal efficiency; larger fields benefit from multiple hives or overlapping coverage.
• Use Bots for farming inside hive range to eliminate well-being penalties while retaining the growth advantage.
• Overlap Beehive areas freely: boosts are redistributed rather than lost, so a tightly packed field with multiple hives remains efficient.
• Remember the hive’s vertical reach: buildings and paths above or below a hive's 7×7 column are affected both by boosts and by potential sting penalties.