Beekeeping Guide. Yay or nay?

  • Please make sure you are posting in the correct place. Server ads go here and modpack bugs go here
  • FTB will be shutting down this forum by the end of July. To participate in our community discussions, please join our Discord! https://ftb.team/discord

Beekeeping guide?


  • Total voters
    134
  • Poll closed .

slay_mithos

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
1,288
0
0
Guys, learn about apiarists pipes, that's seriously better than diamond pipes, by a large margin, while having the same role.
 

Exedra

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
1,261
0
0
Alrighty, good to see we have passed the 100 vote mark. I'll post her when its done.
 

Saice

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
4,020
0
1
Guys, learn about apiarists pipes, that's seriously better than diamond pipes, by a large margin, while having the same role.

Man I wish there was a apiarist tube or module for RP. I've been poking around with bee loading unloading and can get it working with RP with timing my tube item sending. Just wished there was something for bees with RP as for pretty much everything else I've really liked the RP way over the BC for moving/sorting/automation.
 

Zmaster27

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
290
0
0
I wrote it late at night, so I'm not sure I even understand, so now that I've slept, let me retry:

General information: A list of all the bee branches.. Rocky, Nether, Wintery, etc.

A list of the bees in that branch/line. I.e. the nether bees contain: Sinister, Feindish, Demonic.

(Nether bee spoiler information below)
How to breed the bee that begins the line since you have to get sinister before you can breed feindish or demonic. I.e. a modest + cultivated (general hint, no specific information)

Then finally, the specifics like a modest princess + a cultivated drone in the nether.

Then if people *really* want to know everything, how to breed the other bees in the line.


This way it is very spoiler free, and can give hints as needed without spoiling all the fun of discovery.

this is a pretty good idea, if i may say, we could use spoiler tags for the blatant info, and then use allusions like "a brave and refined mix" for the hints using descriptors
 

Zaik

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
117
0
0
would love to see something for extra bees, no freaking clue how you're even supposed to start down that road and the guy's website isn't exactly helpful.
 

Exedra

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
1,261
0
0
To both of you, we will do extra bees when we've done originals. And ICountFromZero, were way ahead of you. Zmaster started on thaumic bees yesterday. Rough due date of 3 weeks.
 

Bluehorazon

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
293
0
0
To both of you, we will do extra bees when we've done originals. And ICountFromZero, were way ahead of you. Zmaster started on thaumic bees yesterday. Rough due date of 3 weeks.

I'm looking forward to it. Honestly the Apiarist-Database from ExtraBees makes breeding very easy. Technically the mod provides all the information about how to breed, as soon as you have one of the required species. Rocky tells you that it can be breed with common to stone, but the problem is you only have the color to seperate the bees. Common and Marbled look almost the same and the mouseover just tells you "discovered species" if you have not already breed them. So as long as the bees have easily recognizable color-schemes using the apiarist database for breeding is very nice, since although it does not spoil you the end, it helps you to figure out what possibilities lie within your livestock. But I would wish for it to even tell you the name if you did not finished the trade.

The best example for this is Common + Marbled -> Cultivated. I actually know which of the bees is the common one because I already breed them. But if you look under "further mutations" it will show all the possible mutations, but not the names, even if you have both species discovered that are required. Some bees like the nether-bees or meadows are easy to tell apart. But their is a bee you breed from noble and diligent that looks like modest, which is very unlikely. So under "further mutations" the Apiarist Database should tell you either the name of the species or "undiscovered species" if you did not have information about the species. But well that is more likely a suggestion for binnie :p

Why bother with diamond pipes? Just do it the way I do.

Well I do not want to waste a floor for this^^. My Bee-Hotel has 6 floors, and the 2x2 room is the best. The only problem is that I need to breed away the requirement of lilypads. And I hate to much entities floating around in water (they are bad enough in pipes^^). It might be a solution for the bottom-most floor, since I can easily dig underneath, but the higher floors would require a two-block ceiling, which is actually more stressing to build without automation than using a few diamonds (I think I used 20 or so) on pipes and well you normally get enough propolis for the first apiarist-pipes while breeding anyway.

Thx. to GregTech and Thaumcraft I have an endless supply of diamonds anyway even without touching a mine, as long as I keep producing gunpowder (since you can macerate diamond-armor and villager sell them, and you can sell chicken-nuggets for emeralds).
 

Exedra

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
1,261
0
0
If any of you see any mods that add more bees, would you mind PMing it to both me and zmaster27. Thanks.
 

DoctorOr

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
1,735
0
0
This is my automated setup
2013-01-12_19.57.49.png



Each pair of apiaries are joined. Cost is 2x redstone engine, 2x wooden pipe, 1x apiarist pipe, 1x iron pipe per joined pair. Plus piping to get the excess out to wherever. Everything gets pulled from the bottom and set up to the apiarist pipe which sends the princess and drones if they fit. Stacked drones are sent as a stack, so the next generation, that apiary won't accept more drones if it takes in a 2x stack this generation.

On the apiarist pipe, set each apiary direction to "Any Bees", and the output direction to "Anything". The pipe will choose the most-specific option first, and only use Anything when the other directions won't work. I've never lost a princess or left one an orphan without a drone using this.

Note: No care is taken to keep the princess to the "correct" apiary, and they will happily swap sides and/or swap drones. Use this only for two princesses you want to have the same genetics. I mostly use this for production bees, when I'm breeding something specific I like to analyze every generation and reinforce the desired traits.

This picture is of a set of resilient drones I have purposefully generating a mass of drones. They're Nocturnal, Flying, Caving bees with 2x fertility, and have Rock as a flower. Normal production bee excess gets sent to "central processing" where the combs get centrifuged and the drones liquidated.

I have an isolator, but am having a horrible time getting Ender pearls or finding villagers selling Ender eyes, so I can't make a replicator. Also can't make the purifier due to lack of tears.
 

netmc

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
1,512
0
0
I don't take credit for this design as it is hellishly expensive, but it looks really nice if you have the materials. (I saw a screenshot or video someone had posted, and recreated it. I don't remember who or where.) It is possible to get a solid line of apiaries without any space between them, and indicator lights to boot. There is no limit on how many times this can be repeated.

2013-01-12_22.54.36.png

Here is a side view of one apiary. As you can see, it is quite deep, and takes 3 blocks to accommodate all the workings with the lights.
2013-01-12_23.09.37.png

This design alternates diamond and gold gates every other apiary. You also need to alternate using stone and cobblestone transport pipes as you don't want them to connect.

Materials needed:
  • 1 Apiary
  • 1 Autarchic diamond OR gate (or autarchic gold OR gate)
  • 2 Diamond OR gates (or gold OR gates)
  • 1 Wooden transport pipe
  • 1 Stone or cobblestone transport pipe
  • 1 Apiarist transport pipe
  • 1 Iron transport pipe
  • 3 Cobblestone structure pipe
  • Red and blue pipe wire (when using golden gates)
  • Green and yellow pipe wire (when using diamond gates)
The autarchic OR gate goes on the wooden transport pipe under the apiary. It is configured to energy pulser when items are in the inventory. The green (red) pipe wire is set when the apiary is missing frames. The yellow (blue) pipe wire is set when missing queen or princess. Green (red) pipe wire is only ran to the iron pipe, and the yellow (blue) pipe wire is run all the way up the structure pipe.

The first diamond gate goes on the iron pipe, the other at the top of the structure pipe.

The apiarist pipe is configured to that any bee will be directed toward the apiary, and anything towards the iron pipe. All the other directions are closed. The iron pipe is configured to send items and extra drones down one direction and out for processing. You will need to add pipe at one end of the iron pipes for this.

The wooden blocks in the design can be any solid block. Because of the way redstone signals travel, you need one block between the gate and the lamp. Otherwise, multiple lamps will be lit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: perroman8698

Icarus White

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
234
0
0
I'm looking forward to it. Honestly the Apiarist-Database from ExtraBees makes breeding very easy. Technically the mod provides all the information about how to breed, as soon as you have one of the required species. Rocky tells you that it can be breed with common to stone, but the problem is you only have the color to seperate the bees. Common and Marbled look almost the same and the mouseover just tells you "discovered species" if you have not already breed them. So as long as the bees have easily recognizable color-schemes using the apiarist database for breeding is very nice, since although it does not spoil you the end, it helps you to figure out what possibilities lie within your livestock. But I would wish for it to even tell you the name if you did not finished the trade.

Er, actually the thing with the database is a bug - in the later versions, you can't see what the bees look like, but you can see whether you've discovered them or not. Apparently pre-rewrite you could also see which branch the bees were in, though.
 

netmc

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
1,512
0
0
RedPower 2 Apiary (tier 1 machines)

Here is a tier 1 semi-automatic method for redpower. This requires no bluetricity to operate. It is also only 1 block wide. Frames will have to be checked manually. The downside is that you may end up with a stack of drones in the apiary before any start going elsewhere. This build requires the following:

  • 1 Transposer
  • 2 Filters
  • RP tubes
  • Red alloy wire
  • Timer

2013-01-13_12.05.12.png

The transposer is right behind the apiary and is powered by a timer (barely visible behind the transposer). The very first filter (lower center) has an unidentified drone from the apiary. The filter on the right has any bee products that are produced from the apiary along with another unidentified drone.

How it works:

Since the bottom filter is only 1 tube away, the drones will try to go there first. If the filter gets jammed (apiary filled with drones), they will continue on to the second filter and through to your storage as that filter is only 2 tubes away. Any bee products will continue to the right to that filter and into storage. The princesses can't go through either of the filters, and since the top of the apiary is the closest valid inventory at 4 tubes, the princesses will end up there.

It is possible to make this setup a only 2 blocks deep, but you will need more room below the apiary to rearrange the piping.
 

netmc

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
1,512
0
0
RedPower 2 Apiary (tier 2 machines)

Here I will show you how to setup a slightly more advanced RP2 apiary. This one uses tier 2 machines, but most importantly, does not need a timer to operate. It is only 1 block wide, so apiaries can be placed right next to each other. There are two designs I will show. The first is the actual bee management, the second gives an indicator light to show when it is time to replace the frames.

Here is what you will need for the basic setup:
  • 1 Sorting machine
  • 1 Regulator
  • Paint color of your choice
  • Tubes
  • A source of bluelectric power
  • Unidentified drones from the apiary
2013-01-13_01.52.13.png

Here is the setup for the sorting machine and the regulator.

RP-sorter.PNG


RP-regulator.PNG

Since RP requires an actual item in the filters, we only want to use items we can produce a lot of. In this case, it is drones and bee products. The sorter is set to color anything that is not a drone or a bee product to red. Red is the color we painted the tube on top the apiary for the princess. Since the princess is the only item not defined in the sorter, it will get colored red and will go to the top of the apiary since that is the closest valid destination. The regulator is configured to only allow drones, and to keep only one in the apiary. All the rest will go elsewhere. It doesn't matter what color you give the items and drones in the sorter as long as it is not the same color you chose to paint the tube on top of the apiary. Also note the circular mode on the sorter. The sorter will automatically pull any items in the adjacent inventory without needing a redstone signal.

Redpower 2 Apiary with missing frame indicator lights

In addition to the items needed above you will also need:
  • 1 Inverted lamp of your choice
  • 1 Item detector
  • 1 State cell
  • Red alloy wire
  • Covers
  • 1 Restriction tube
Here is the front of the apiary.
2013-01-13_12.08.38.png

It is not possible to directly detect weather an apiary has frames in the apiary using RedPower. Instead we will detect the absence of frames by the reduction of output of combs and other bee products.

2013-01-13_12.11.31.png
And a slightly different view showing the wiring a bit better.
2013-01-13_12.11.16.png

To detect the combs and bee products we need an item detector. The item detector is configured to emit a redstone pulse any time a bee product goes through the pipe. Every time it sends a redstone pulse, the state cell is reset keeping the red alloy wire to the on state. Since we are using an inverted lamp, as soon as the state cell goes off, the lamp is lit automatically. I have the state cell set for 5 minutes (300 seconds) currently, although this will need to be tweaked to accommodate the normal production rate of the bees in the apiary. 300 seconds is more than enough time for cultivated bees as they seem to produce a comb about every 3 minutes. The state cell may need to be set longer for other bees like forest and meadows.

Here is the configuration of the item detector.

RP-Itemdetector.PNG

You will place any products produced by the bees in the apiary in the item detector. For valiant bees, it would be coco combs and sugar. Extra drones traversing the item detector will not emit a redstone signal and not reset the lamp. When the frames are gone from the apiary, the production rate will drop to 10% of normal output. For most bees, this would mean no combs are produced at all. Without bee products, the state cell will run out, and the lamp will light up. This isn't foolproof, but is the best I could do and keep everything 1 block wide.

When placing several of these side by side, you will need to place covers to prevent adjacent tubes from connecting. for the tube on top of the apiary, simply use a different paint color and adjust the sorter to match. The item detector and state cells will likely need to be staggered slightly to allow for side-by-side placement. Use cover strips along the side of the red alloy wire to prevent cross connection.
 

slay_mithos

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
1,288
0
0
The problem with RP apiaries is that you can't be as precise with what bees goes where, or you need to separate the circuits for that.

The pipes specifically apiarist pipes, on the other hands, give you a much better control over your bees, even more when you want to breed pure lines.
They have a lot of options, so it becomes way easier to refill the apiaries with what you want.

You can still hook that system to a RP network after that if you so wish though.

And don't give me a "you can use RP filters", they need an actual bee of the exact same species to stay inside at all time.