Posted March 28, 2026 by beekeeping
Pollination Contracts & the Wider World
One of the things I wanted this game to capture from the start is that beekeeping isn't just about honey. Real beekeepers are hired every season to move their hives onto farms, orchards, and fields.
Their bees do the pollinating, and the farmer pays for the service. It's a significant part of how many beekeepers actually make a living.
So that's now in the game.
Pollination Contracts
Once you reach Level 6 — Head Beekeeper, you can send a hive out on a pollination contract. Choose your crop — blueberries, stonefruit, canola, or almonds and send the hive off.
You get paid upfront when the hive leaves. There's a catch: the hive is gone for 30 days, and you can't harvest honey from it during that time. The bees are working for someone else. There's also a health requirement. Varroa must be below 5 before you can send a hive out. No farmer wants a diseased colony on their land, and it reflects real biosecurity rules that apply to commercial pollination work.
When the 30 days are up, the hive returns automatically and you get a notification. Each crop pays a different rate — almonds are the most lucrative, blueberries the entry point. The hive comes back in the same condition it left, so keeping it healthy before sending it matters.
Why This Matters for Gameplay
The interesting decision here isn't whether to do it, the money is good. It's which hive to send, and when. Sending your strongest hive away in peak summer means 30 days of lost honey production during the best nectar flow of the year. Sending a weaker hive means the varroa requirement becomes a constraint you need to manage first.
It also gives a use for hives that are recovering from disease or low population — they can earn their keep through pollination while they rebuild, rather than just sitting there costing you management time. This isn't quite true in the real world as each hive has to have a minimum number of covered frames so you would not be sending your very weak hives as there is a chance you would forfeit the contract. It depends on the contract.
What's Next
Pollination contracts are the first feature that pushes the game beyond the apiary fence. The plan is to keep building on that, there are ideas in the works and some relased already for dynamic honey prices, a local honey show, and eventually a second apiary (in the works) location with different forage. More on those soon.
Thanks for following along — feedback always welcome.