Productive Bees Gene Sampling Guide

Once you’ve successfully bred your bees and obtained the species you want, the next step is optimizing their traits. If your bees aren’t productive enough or you’d like to modify their characteristics, there are multiple ways to adjust them—including using the Gene Indexer. This guide will walk you through the gene sampling process in Productive Bees, from the manual method to fully automated solutions.

Understanding Bee Traits

Before you start gene sampling, it’s important to understand what traits you’re working with. When you examine a bee using the Gene Indexer, you’ll see several key attributes:

Type: Whether it’s a hive bee, forest bee, etc.

Productivity: How productive the bee is (normal, fast, slow, etc.)

Weather Tolerance: Whether the bee can fly in rain or other weather conditions

Activity Pattern: Diurnal (awake during the day) or nocturnal (awake at night)

Endurance: How long the bee can stay active

Temper: The bee’s behavior (normal, docile, aggressive, etc.)

Understanding these traits helps you identify which bees to sample genes from based on your breeding goals.

The Manual Gene Sampling Method

Using the Bottler and Centrifuge (The Difficult Way)

While not recommended, the manual method teaches you how gene sampling works. Here’s what you’ll need:

A Bottler

A Centrifuge

A bee cage or bee entity (sporeneg works in examples)

Glass blocks

A piston

A button or lever

An oak trap door

First, set up your containment area by surrounding a Bottler with glass blocks. Place a piston on top and a button or lever nearby. Install an oak trap door to prevent bee escape during the process.

Right-click on your bee cage to release the bee into the containment area, then quickly shut the trap door. Once the bee is trapped above the Bottler and between the piston, activate the button to slam the piston down and crush the bee.

Open the trap door to reveal the squashed bee material. Take this material to a Centrifuge, which will process it and extract gene samples. You’ll receive various gene samples with different traits and percentages, such as endurance, productivity, and other attributes.

Using the Gene Indexer

Once you have your gene samples from the Centrifuge, you can combine them using a Gene Indexer. However, the Gene Indexer requires a redstone signal to function—use a lever rather than a button, as the process takes time to complete.

Place all your collected gene samples into the Gene Indexer and flip the lever. The device will automatically combine the different gene percentages into a unified 100% gene result. For example, if you have multiple samples with percentages like 29%, 47%, 21%, and 27%, the indexer will combine them into a single 100% gene.

Combining Genes in a Crafting Table

If you prefer not to use the Gene Indexer, you can manually combine gene samples in a crafting table. Simply add multiple gene samples together until they reach 100%. For instance, if you have three samples at 27%, 27%, and 27%, you can combine them to reach 81%, then add more samples to reach 100%.

Applying Genes to Bees

Creating Gene-Enhanced Honey Treats

Once you have a 100% gene sample, you can apply it to new bees through honey treats. Combine your desired gene (for example, “Temper Normal 100%”) with a honey treat to create a gene-enhanced honey treat.

Using the Bee Incubator

Place a baby bee in your Bee Incubator. Instead of using a basic honey treat, insert your gene-enhanced honey treat (such as “Temper Normal 100%”). As the baby bee develops into an adult, the incubator will insert the specified gene into the bee, giving it the trait you desired.

This method requires patience, as you must first locate bees with the traits you want before you can sample their genes. However, it’s a reliable way to slowly build up a bee population with your desired characteristics.

The Easy Way: Automated Gene Sampling with Advanced Hives

Gene Sample Upgrade

The much easier approach is to use Advanced Bee Hives equipped with the Gene Sample upgrade. This upgrade slowly extracts genes from visiting bees without harming them.

To install the upgrade, sneak right-click on an Advanced Bee Hive block. You can install multiple upgrades on a single hive for greater gene output.

Automating Gene Collection

Rather than manually squashing bees, set up a piping system to automatically output gene samples from your Advanced Hives into storage. You can use item filters from other mods to route specific genes directly into the Gene Sampler.

With this automated setup, gene samples will accumulate over time without any manual intervention. This is the most efficient and beginner-friendly way to build your desired bee genetics.

Summary

Gene sampling in Productive Bees allows you to customize your bee population’s traits and productivity. While the manual method using a Bottler and Centrifuge works, the advanced approach with automated Gene Sample upgrades is far more efficient. Whether you choose manual gene extraction or full automation, the process boils down to: sample genes from bees with desired traits, combine them to 100%, and apply them to new bees through honey treats and the Bee Incubator. With time and patience, you’ll have a perfectly optimized bee colony tailored to your needs.

— Want to Support? —

If you would like to help us continue making these guides – please consider joining our patreon here – https://www.patreon.com/c/JaviHeals

Alternatively – we host a group of MC Servers you can join here – https://discord.gg/zD7Gjt6MHF