Yep same bug here with version 1.17.1 when i build some beehives in my village, it works fine in the beginning, but after a while when i start the game all of a sudden, the beehives are empty and the bees are gone. This is a serious bug and needs fixing right away. More and more I regret updating to 1.17. When I started my older game based on 1.16.5. with the newer version it was the opposite. I had twice as much bees occuring.
So how ist look like? It's now September and the issue was created in the beginning of July. Please give us at least a plausible answer whether this is a real bug or the bees disappearing quickly because their actual life span is short as it is in reallife. Seriously how is the state of things? Is there any developer at mojang taking care of this problem? Thanks in advance for a response.