Bee Breeding trick: Species Pushing

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ShneekeyTheLost

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Dec 8, 2012
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So, first thing to do with bee breeding is you make a scoop and start whackin' away at hives! Only in 1.6.x+... you've got a pretty good chance that the bee that pops out is going to be Ignoble. Which means you have to whack still more. However, if you can't find the right species in Pristine, don't worry. We've got a trick you can use called Species Pushing

Species pushing

Right. So, odds are, when you start whacking away at hives, most of the princesses you get will be Ignoble. So what happens if you want a Pristine from, say, Forest, but all you have are ignobles? However, you've got a spare Pristine Meadows. Well, it's fairly straightforward.

Grab yourself a bee box, slap the ignoble Forest princess and matching drone into it. We're wanting a Stable line here, no mixing and matching yet. Also, get an Apiary down. The combs are actually irrelevant at this point, the important resource you are getting here are the Forest drones.

Normally, when you start breeding, you are wanting to get crossbreeds... you know, Forest + Meadows = Common. However, for this example, we're going to assume that you are wanting a stable Forest line before continuing on. This trick can also be used if you end up with REALLY bad luck and have to come up with something like an ignoble Common that you are wanting to make Pristine.

When you've got a dozen or so Forest drones, shove them into an Apiary with the spare pristine princess of any flavor (in this case, your spare Meadows). Basically, you're going to flood it so that eventually, it will come out a pure pristine Forest princess. You aren't interested in crossbreeding at this point, you aren't interested in anything else. You just want to keep breeding it and breeding it with Pure Forest drones until it comes out a Pure Pristine Forest Princess.

In other words, if you have an ignoble line you want to have as a pristine line, and you have spare pristine bees lying around, you can do that. It might take a bit, but easily possible. Just slap the ignoble bee in a bee box and churn out some drones, then spam the drones at the pristine princess until it comes out pure.

Extra Bees with serums can also achieve this effect, sure, but if you've already GOT the drones, it is a whole lot of hassle you don't have to go through yet.

Of course, once you are done with species pushing and have a stable Pristine bee of that species, you can dump the ignoble one in a lava lake, because it will be nothing but a liability from that point forward.
 

Runo

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Jul 29, 2019
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I thought most people did this :p This is how I've always copied queens, throw them in a cycling apiary/alveary with around 16 stacked drones. I don't bother with species serums for intermediate species but keep a stack of 20-30 drones of each type in a bee chest. I do, however, max fert every species after alvearies.
 

Mero

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Jul 29, 2019
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I thought most people did this :p This is how I've always copied queens, throw them in a cycling apiary/alveary with around 16 stacked drones. I don't bother with species serums for intermediate species but keep a stack of 20-30 drones of each type in a bee chest. I do, however, max fert every species after alvearies.

The point is with the new bees, you're going to find more ignoble than pristine so you need a way to create pristine out of ignoble.

A lot of people will have issues figuring this method out on their own.

Too bad most people won't see this before the forums are flooded with questions/complaints once the new packs come out.
 

Seraph089

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Jul 29, 2019
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I don't know why it seems people don't know this trick, species pushing is handy.

The only thing I do different is using a bee house instead of an apiary to push with. Can't be automated, but since there's no chance of mutation it seems to go faster. Usually only 3-4 cycles (if that) for purebred, and another 1-2 for stacked drones
 

ShneekeyTheLost

Too Much Free Time
Dec 8, 2012
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Lost as always
I don't know why it seems people don't know this trick, species pushing is handy.

The only thing I do different is using a bee house instead of an apiary to push with. Can't be automated, but since there's no chance of mutation it seems to go faster. Usually only 3-4 cycles (if that) for purebred, and another 1-2 for stacked drones
I just hook up a couple of pipes and a dozen or so drones, then let 'er rip while I go off and do some branch mining or something. Less micromanagement that way. Hence the Apiary.
 

Mero

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Jul 29, 2019
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I just hook up a couple of pipes and a dozen or so drones, then let 'er rip while I go off and do some branch mining or something. Less micromanagement that way. Hence the Apiary.


Yeah, that's what I do.
While I don't mind stopping and putting a new drone in every once in a while, it's nice to be able to not have to come back to that area just for that purpose.
 

Henry Link

Popular Member
Dec 23, 2012
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I don't know why it seems people don't know this trick, species pushing is handy.

The only thing I do different is using a bee house instead of an apiary to push with. Can't be automated, but since there's no chance of mutation it seems to go faster. Usually only 3-4 cycles (if that) for purebred, and another 1-2 for stacked drones


Interesting idea I'll have to test. I usually do use an apiary with the BC pipe so only the princess goes back into the apiary. My method normally take about 8 breedings or so to push the drone traits to the princess. I usually put in about 15 drones and let them run dry to make sure all of the traits are pushed.