Hive Keeper
Run a honeybee colony through one season. Each week split the young bees between nursing and building, the middle-aged between building and guarding, and send foragers near or far. Store enough honey and bees for winter. 10 seasons.
Play nowHow to play
Controls
Tap- Each week, use the two sliders (or the − / + buttons) to split the young bees between Nurse and Build and the middle-aged bees between Build and Guard, choose Near or Far for the old foraging bees, then tap Next week.
- Nurses raise brood, builders add comb to store honey, guards stop wasp raids and foragers bring nectar.
- The strip shows flowers, rain and wasps for the next weeks.
- After 16 weeks you need the honey and bees shown at the top.
About the game
Hive Keeper is a gentle management game about a single honeybee colony. A season lasts sixteen weeks, and every week you decide how the colony's workers spend their time. Young bees can nurse the brood or build wax comb, middle-aged bees can build or guard the entrance, and the oldest bees fly out to forage, either near the hive where it is safe or far away where there is more nectar and more danger. Honey only fits in built comb, every bee eats, and when the season ends the winter needs a set amount of honey and enough bees to keep the cluster warm.
The twist is the real life cycle of the honeybee. Workers change jobs as they age, so you cannot simply order more foragers. Brood takes three weeks to hatch and four more weeks before those bees are old enough to forage, which means the nurses you put to work today become the foraging force seven weeks from now. The forecast strip shows the bloom, rain and wasp raids ahead, so the skill is to nurse hard well before the big bloom, keep enough guards for raid weeks and still raise winter bees late in the season. Ten seasons move the bloom, add raids and raise the winter goal.
Free to play in your browser. No download, no sign-up. Works on phones, tablets and computers. Your progress is saved on this device.
