If you’ve spent any amount of time grinding for crafting materials or trying to keep your party healed up during tough boss fights, you’ve probably asked how do you get honey in Palworld. This sticky, sweet resource is far more useful than many new players realize, and it’s accessible even in the first few hours of your playthrough if you know where to look. There are two core ways to get honey: harvesting it from wild Beegarde hives, or setting up an automated farm to produce it on demand. This guide breaks down both methods, plus safety tips to avoid getting swarmed by angry bee Pals, and the best uses for your honey once you have it.
Where to Locate Beegarde Hives for Wild Honey Collection
Beegardes, the flying bee-type Pals that produce honey, only spawn in temperate, forested biomes with lots of flowering plants. You won’t find them in snowy peaks, dry deserts, or volcanic areas, so stick to the central and southern parts of the map early on. The most reliable spots for new players are the bamboo groves south of the starting plateau, and the forested edges of Verdant Brook, just a short walk from the first fast travel point.
Hives are large, bright yellow comb structures that usually spawn 10 to 20 feet up in tall oak or bamboo trees, so you’ll need to look up while exploring these areas to spot them. You won’t find hives in dense, dark old-growth forest areas, since Beegardes prefer open, sunny spots with access to lots of nectar. For example, I found my first hive less than 10 minutes after leaving the starting island, tucked in the top of a bamboo tree just south of the first raid spawn point.
If you see a group of 2 to 3 Beegardes circling a specific spot, there’s almost always a hive within 50 feet of that group. You can also use your Pal scanner to detect Beegardes from farther away, which cuts down on search time significantly. Each wild hive holds 3 to 5 units of honey when fully mature, so you can stock up a decent amount in just one exploration run if you hit multiple hives.
How Do You Get Honey in Palworld From Wild Hives Safely
Collecting wild honey isn’t risk-free. Beegardes are extremely territorial, and will attack you immediately if you get within 10 feet of their hive, or if you hit the hive itself. Their stings apply a poison debuff that drains 5% of your HP per second for 5 seconds, and they usually attack in swarms of 3 or more, which can wipe out low-level players in seconds if you’re not prepared.
The safest way to harvest wild honey early game is to wear a Ghillie Suit, which you unlock at Technology Level 7. The suit makes you nearly undetectable to neutral and aggressive Pals as long as you crouch and don’t run, so you can climb up to the hive and harvest it without alerting the guards. Never hit the hive directly before dealing with the guards, that will trigger every Beegarde in a 100 foot radius to attack you, even ones you didn’t see hiding in nearby trees.
But if you don’t have a Ghillie Suit yet, you can use a long-range weapon like a bow to pick off the guard Beegardes from a distance, so they don’t swarm you. Each defeated Beegarde also has a 20% chance to drop an extra unit of honey, so this method can actually net you more resources per hive if you’re comfortable fighting them. If you bring a Pal with the Intimidate passive trait, like Arsox, Beegardes will be 40% less likely to attack you on sight, making the whole process even easier.
How to Set Up an Automated Honey Farm for Steady Drops
Wild honey collection works fine for small, one-off needs, but if you use honey regularly for crafting or Pal care, you’ll want to set up an automated farm to avoid spending hours running through the forest looking for hives. The farm is extremely low effort once it’s set up, and produces honey nonstop as long as you meet a few basic requirements.
To build a functional honey farm, you’ll need the following items:
- 1 Ranch (unlocked at Technology Level 12, requires 50 Wood, 20 Stone, 10 Fiber to build)
- 2+ Beegardes with the Farming Work Suitability trait (most Beegardes spawn with this, but check their stats before catching to avoid wasting Pal Spheres)
- 1 Flower Bed placed within 10 feet of the ranch (optional, but cuts honey production time by 30% and eliminates the need to feed your Beegardes)
Once you have all the materials, place the ranch in a sunny, temperate biome, away from any hostile spawn points that could attack your Beegardes. Assign the Beegardes to the ranch, and they’ll start producing honey every 10 to 15 minutes automatically, no extra input needed from you. You can add up to 4 Beegardes to a single ranch for maximum output, which gives you around 20 units of honey per hour, more than enough for most players’ regular needs.
That means you can have a fully functional honey farm up and running within an hour of reaching level 12, no rare materials required. If you want to double up on resources, you can add a Vixy or two to the same ranch, as they won’t interfere with honey production, and you’ll get extra wool alongside your honey harvests. Just make sure you empty the ranch’s storage box every few hours to avoid overflow, which will stop production until you clear it out.
Top Uses for Honey in Palworld Crafting and Pal Care
Honey is one of the most versatile mid-game resources, and it’s used for everything from healing to Pal breeding to making gold fast. The most common use for most players is crafting High Grade Healing Potions, which restore 70% of your maximum HP and cure all status effects, including poison and burn. These potions are far more effective than the basic berry potions you use early game, and they’re essential for taking on high-level bosses like Zoe and Grizzbolt.
Honey is also a favorite food for 12 different Pal species, including Tanzee, Lovander, and Grintale. Giving a Pal a unit of honey boosts their friendship level by 50 points, which is 5 times more than you get from giving them standard berries. So if you’re trying to raise your friendship with a rare Pal you just caught, giving them a few pieces of honey is the fastest way to unlock their full passive skill set and increase their work speed.
It’s also a key ingredient in Honey Cakes, which are required to breed some of the rarest Pals in the game, including Jetragon and Suzaku. If you’re looking to build a breeding farm for end-game Pals, you’ll need hundreds of units of honey to make enough cakes to get the traits you want. If you have surplus honey, you can sell it to wandering merchants for 150 gold per unit, which is one of the fastest ways to make gold in the mid-game without grinding raids or selling rare drops.
At the end of the day, whether you’re gathering it from wild hives on your first exploration run or harvesting hundreds of units a week from an automated farm, the answer to how do you get honey in Palworld is simpler than most new players think. You don’t need end game gear or rare Pals to start, just a little patience to find the hives and avoid getting swarmed. I actually built my first honey farm right after I got wiped by a group of Beegardes trying to steal their honey, and I haven’t had to go hunting for wild honey since. If you start building your honey farm as soon as you unlock the ranch at level 12, you’ll never run out of healing items or Pal gifts again, making your entire playthrough far smoother.