tupelo honey

The Bee’s Knees Apiary Set

*Please note, there is additional information posted at the Keep.

Purchase a skep or bee box from the Build catalog under Garden -> Gardening. Once you place it you can stock it with a collected Wild Beehive or harvested Queen Cell from another apiary station. There is a total of 10 skeps and bee hives (medieval, modern, and everything in between) to choose from.

During spring, summer and autumn seasons, Honeycomb may be harvested regularly. Honeycomb may be used to stock the refrigerator, sold for profit or used to create processed honey and beeswax (for future candlemaking). In the summer, Queen Cells may be harvested. These may be used to establish new colonies or sold for profit. Note that harvesting is based on a 50% coin flip each day, so availability of Honeycomb or Queen Cells is random. The amount of Queen Cells retrieved is also random. You can expect between 3 to 6 quantity per harvest. Be sure to check your station each day for harvest availability.

You should see bees around your “live” skep or bee box during the day and none at night. During the winter the colony will become dormant and you won’t see bees at all until the spring. In the spring and autumn the hive is susceptible to parasites. If this happens the bees will disappear and you will see white bee moths hovering around the skep or bee box. There is the option to treat the hive with an herbal preparation to act as a natural pesticide against the invaders. Collect fresh Thyme, Mint, Lemongrass and a Bucket of Water and select the option to Treat Parasites on the bee box. Whether or not the treatment works is random chance. If treatment is successful the parasites will disappear and the hive will resume normal activity. If the treatment is a failure the hive will die and you will need to restock your bee box with a new Wild Beehive or Queen Cell. Note that you have 36 hours once the parasites invade to attempt to treat the hive. If nothing is done the hive will die automatically.

In the Winter, the hive is threatened by starvation when there is excessive cold or deep snow on the lot. In this situation you can feed the bees their honey to give them a chance at survival. Take a harvested Honeycomb to the bee box and select Treat Starvation. There is a random chance of success or failure. If successful the hive will resume in the spring as normal and if it is a failure the hive will need to be stocked again in the spring.

Various Mechanical skill levels are required to perform certain tasks at the Apiary Station: 0/½ - no interaction available 3+ - Observe Hive; Teens through Elders 4+ - Harvest Honeycomb; Teens through Elders 5+ - Stock Hive; Teens through Elders 7+ - Receive Writ of Mastery; Adults and Elders 7+ - Harvest Queen Cells, Treat Parasites, Treat Starvation, Inspect Hive Observe Hive is a non-autonomous action for lower mechanical skill Sims to watch the bees and build skill. They are essentially learning about the hive and how it works. This interaction also builds fun motive. Inspect Hive is an integral part in discovering the status of the hive. Custom messages will tell the Sim exactly what is currently happening within the hive and if any actions need to be taken. During the winter it’s especially important to check with the hive daily to make certain they don’t need assistance because starvation doesn’t have a visual cue like parasites. Once a Sim reaches Mechanical skill level 7, a Writ of Mastery will be offered to them. This declares the Sim to have achieved “Master” level of the Beekeeping trade. This object will be placed into a Sim’s personal inventory. As long as they keep the writ in their inventory they can produce exclusive items for use or sale. Only adults and elders will be able to achieve “Master” status. Teens will have to wait until they reach maturity despite how many skill points they earn.

If a Sim carries a Smoker in their personal inventory they will autonomously harvest Honeycomb. If they meet the requirements, they will also autonomously harvest Queen Cells. The attraction is the same as on other crops, so if a Sim is in close proximity they should be more prone to harvest, but ultimately depends on their personality and distractions. The Smoker can be found in the Buy catalog under Hobbies -> Miscellaneous. 

Once a Sim has collected 6 Honeycombs it’s time to use the press to filter out the honey. Sims with a Mechanical skill level of 4 or higher will default produce Clover Honey as this tends to be the most common type. Upon completion of using the press, 6 jars of Honey and 1 bucket of Raw Beeswax will be placed into the Sim’s personal inventory (or business owners). Jars of Honey may be be used to stock the refrigerator or sold for profit, while the Raw Beeswax can be used as a resource in other stations (candlemaking) or sold for profit.The Press includes 18 pooklet naturals recolors + painted options. It can be found in the Buy catalog under -> Hobbies -> Miscellaneous.

If a Sim has a Writ of Mastery in Beekeeping in their personal inventory and there are specific botanicals on the lot, the option to make different types of honey appears on the Press.

The following types can be produced if there is at least one plant or tree on the lot: Apple Blossom, Blackberry (any size bush), Blueberry (any size bush), Lavender, Orange Blossom, Rosemary Note - You do NOT need to harvest the trees/plants…they just need to be anywhere on the lot.As with making Clover Honey, 6 honeycombs are required to produce 6 jars of honey + 1 bucket of Raw Beeswax. This station is for non-autonomous use only by Teens through Elder ages.

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We usually clone deco objects from sculptures or plants so they will go in these categories. See what I mean? Yeah, we eventually end with Deco category overloaded with tons of assorted clutter and it takes ages to find the thing needed. Collections are not always work: none of them shows in dorm lots, some doesn’t work at comminity and again, it’s hard to find the collection you need among 100500 others.

A solution? Put your objects in different categories (it can be done via SimPE or The Categorizer but I don’t recommend the latest because of some bugs). Here are some ideas by me:

Food & related clutter (dishes, cutlery and so) will work perfectly with Appliances - Other. This category is not used by default (but become active if there are things in it) so you’ll see only food-related things there.

Drinks, glassware and bottles along with bar accessoires will also fit General - Party.

Bathroom clutter will work with Plumbing - Misc as well as some beauty things (creams, perfume, hair brush, razors…). I also put cleaning & laundry stuff there. This category is unused by default too so you’ll see no other things there.

The General - Dressers category can also be used for clothing & accessoires clutter along with makeup items.

All hobby stuff will go… yes, to the Hobbies category. Art (including photography) & music clutter to Creative, books (and maybe globes) to Knowledge, sports & fitness clutter to Exercising… well, you caught the idea.

If you have tons of baby & kids-related clutter you may want to put them in General - Nursery category to have everything at hand.

Electronics - Misc for small electronics clutter like photo lenses, deco cellphones, walkie talkies? Why not?

Bed deco like blankets, pillows and throws? Sure the Comfort - Beds category!

Candles can be placed in Lighting - Other category. Even if they are non-functional it’s way easier to find them.

Not so obvious: the Surfaces - Desks category will do for office & study clutter (papers, stationary, school stuff & so on).

Not obvious at all: condoms and other adult bedside things for Beds category. If you have a lot of them it will come handy.

And even if you have no ideas for placement of particular clutter you can always put it in General - Misc category. I use it for keys, medical items, weapons and other handy things which I don’t wanna be buried deep in deco section.

Of course you are free to categorize your stuff any way you want. If you’re OK with Deco section, go for it. But for me this setting saves a lot of time when decorating any room and especially taking pictures. Maybe it will also be useful for you and your fellow simmers.