So, I found out the hard way that you can't walk up too close to a beehive. Igni to the rescue! Ok, so I burn the crap out of the beehive and it drops to the ground and burns out. Once it's done burning out I am able to recover several in-tact honeycomb from it as loot.

Suspension of disbelief much! Fireproof honeycomb? Amazing, the bees must be able to cast Quen on their honeycomb or something after sensing I'm casting Igni on their hive. I'm just saying. :)

Thought someone else might find that funny too. :)

Nice to know thanks. I tried knocking it down with a sign (aard maybe?) and a huge swarm sprang up and killed me as I came close. So I've assumed they were for use in battle like the exploding barrels, didn't even consider they had loot in em after that lol.

Very lucrative loot. They sell at herbalists for 18 a piece, and can become one of your primary sources of income early in the game.

Yeah, first one I found was just to the left of the road after the first cut scene encounter with the griffon on the way to White Orchard. First time I didn't know what it was and tried to loot it and died then I realized it sounded like bees, so next time around I fired Igni at it and then looted it after. Just been collecting the honeycomb ever since I found it, but yeah I ran into an herbalist that offered to buy some once, just forget where they were, or perhaps they all do... will have to try to sell it next time I'm at one which should be soon because I just FINALLY killed the griffon and think there's nothing left to do on this region map but not sure yet. :)

I ended up with two herbalists in White Orchard. The first was the main herbalist for the town, who put up the notice about wanting honeycombs. She is west of the main village. The other herbalist came to a shrine I cleared of monsters, on the road east of the Devil by the Well quest. Both herbalists bought honeycombs at 18 a piece.

Yeah, that's fairly odd to say the least! :P

Are harpy feathers still worth a lot of money?

Yep, I've met them both too, never tried to sell honeycomb to them yet but that's next on my list. I just need to do that and then go talk to Vesimir to find out what happens next after the griffon although I have my suspicions we'll be on the roard....

You can knock off the beehive with aard. This is trickier than with ingi, but i'm just saying so you know.
The honey is a very lucrative source of income, especially in the game.
The amount of money you can get is of course limited by the herbalists' cash supply but you can get around 100 for a few slices, trade a few honecombs more for the recipies and still have some left over for later.

Bees have been trained as witchers of the bee witcher clan. Bees have been trained as witchers of the bee witcher clan.