Traits
"Every bee has a set of traits depending on their species. When you cross-breed bees together, the queen inherits a mix of traits from both bees!"
Traits are one of the main mechanics of the game - every single bee has a different set of traits, based initially on which species the bee is.
When bees are cross-bred, or formed as offspring from a queen, ALL of the traits get jumbled around based on Punnett Square logic for each trait listed below.
Flowers can be used to buff or debuff certain traits.
Traits
Game Mechanics
Lifespan
This determines how long a queen's lifespan will be! The higher the number, the longer the life.
The value below is the number of seconds (real-time) that a queen will last for before dying and producing offspring.
Having 
nearby will increase the queen's lifespan by 1.
Having 
nearby will decrease the queen's lifespan by 1.
| Trait Number | Trait Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hyper | 60s |
| 2 | Rapid | 120s |
| 3 | Short | 180s |
| 4 | Normal | 240s |
| 5 | Long | 360s |
| 6 | Ancient | 480s |
| 7 | Eternal | 720s |
Productivity
This is how much honeycomb or frame products a queen's hive will produce! Higher productivity means more goodies.
The value below is used for two things, firstly the number of seconds each produce cycle lasts for a working queen, and secondly a multiplier for produce gained out of extracting frames.
Having 
nearby will increase the queen's productivity by 1.
| Trait Number | Trait Name | Value | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sluggish | 180s | 1x |
| 2 | Slowest | 120s | 1x |
| 3 | Slow | 90s | 1x |
| 4 | Normal | 60s | 2x |
| 5 | Fast | 45s | 2x |
| 6 | Fastest | 40s | 3x |
| 7 | Brisk | 30s | 4x |
The multiplier (M) is used in the following ways:
- Beeswax produced per frame is a random amount between 1 and (M+1)
- Base honey produced per frame is 10bl * M
- No. of seeds produced per frame is M
- Special produce per frame is a random amount between 1 and (M+1)
This does not take into account other modifiers like flower buffs or frame buffs.
Fertility
This is how many offspring a queen will produce at the end of her life, higher numbers mean more babees!
The value below is used as a multiplier to determine the amount of offspring that will be produced. The actual number produced will still be limited by the type of hive the bees are in.
Having 
nearby will increase the queen's fertility by 1.
| Trait Number | Trait Name | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sterile | 0x |
| 2 | Infertile | 1x |
| 3 | Unlucky | 2x |
| 4 | Fertile | 3x |
| 5 | Fecund | 4x |
| 6 | Prolific | 5x |
| 7 | Swarming | 6x |
The multiplier (M) is used in the following ways:
- Base offspring count is a random number between 2 and (M+2)
- In a Swarmer, the count is boosted by a random number between 1 and (M+1)
This does not take into account other modifiers like flower buffs.
Stability
This is how stable a species is, the lower the number the more chance a mutation can occur in hybrid offspring.
The value below is used as a modifier when working out the % chance a hybrid offspring has to mutate. This is in ADDITION to the 50% required for a hybrid offspring to form from a hybrid queen.
Having 
nearby will increase the queen's stability by 1.
Having 
nearby will decrease the queen's stability by 1.
| Trait Number | Trait Name | Modifier |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chaotic | 20 |
| 2 | Erratic | 12 |
| 3 | Unstable | 8 |
| 4 | Normal | 5 |
| 5 | Stable | 0 |
| 6 | Ordered | -5 |
| 7 | Pure | -100 |
The modifier (M) is used in the following ways:
- A base chance is got by rolling a number between 1-100
- The modifier is taken away from this roll, i.e. if you rolled a 20 with a "Normal" stability, your base chance is now 15
- If the base chance is now <= the chance listed against the hybrid species (and other species criteria are met), a mutation occurs
This does not take into account other modifiers like flower buffs or altar effects.
Behaviour
This is the time of day a queen is active, can be Diurnal (day), Nocturnal (night), Crepuscular (dawn/dusk), or Cathermal (24/7)
This is used to determine at what times a hive will be working, and when the lifespan/produce counter will tick down.
For reference, in-game times are:
| Trait Name | Time Name | Time Range |
|---|---|---|
| Diurnal | Day | 7am - 5pm |
| Nocturnal | Night | 9pm - 3am |
| Crepuscular | Dawn / Dusk | 3am - 7am and 5pm - 9pm |
| Cathermal | Any Time | Any Time |
These ranges can be modified from flower buffs to increase the amount of time bees are active for.
Having 
nearby will keep non-nocturnal bees up for 2 more hours after day-time ends.
Having 
nearby will keep non-diurnal bees up for 2 more hours after night-time ends.
Climate
This is the climate a queen prefers, can be Temperate, Tropic (hot), Polar (cold), or Any.
The Forest biome is Temperate, the Swamp biome is Tropic, and the Tundra biome is Polar.
These can be modified using climate control machines to effect the local climate for a specific hive.
Other Traits
Rain-loving
These bees love the rain, and will be hard at work even on rainy days.
Bees that do not like the rain will wait until it is no longer raining, meaning the lifespan/produce meters will not count down.
Snow-loving
These bees love the snow and will happily work away when it falls.
Bees that do not like snow will wait until it is no longer snowing, meaning the lifespan/produce meters will not count down.
Grumpy
These bees are grumpy and won't work with you unless you use a smoker with their favourite flowers!
Grumpy bees need to be smoked in a Smoker before being able to be worked with. Grumpiness is species specific, so if the dominent species of a bee is a grumpy species, the bee will always be grump
Blessed
These bees are blessed by the Hivemother. These shiny variants of bees are rarer, having a 10% chance to form and visually show with a coloured aura and "shine" effect.
Only blessed bees can be used in a Hivemother Altar.
Beeatrice
These bees are descendents of Beeatrice, the first bee you are given in the game in the Welcome To APICO quest.
They count towards the "Beeatrice Army" Achievement.
You can use a Microscope in-game to check if a bee is a descendent of Beeatrice.
Trivia
- It would technically be possible to breed a bee that never produces anything while working in a beehive, if you have a lifespan trait with a shorter duration than the productivity trait.
- Traits cannot be boosted to be lower than 1 or higher than 7, these are capped regardless of flowers nearby