There are 48 bees to find in Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, and they’re important because nabbing as many as possible is the only way most people will get through the final challenge. Clearing the Impossible Lair is needed to beat the game, and it’s a gauntlet that’s much more difficult and taxing than anything that’s found in any of the other 40 levels. Every bee that’s collected adds one health point during the Impossible Lair, so having all 48 gives you the most wiggle room when attempting it — and you’ll probably still fail at least a few times.
Getting 40 of the 48 bees is self-explanatory. The reward for getting through a new level is one bee. There are 40 levels in Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, thus, you’ll have 40 bees by playing everything once.
That means that eight of the bees are hidden somewhere in the world. We’ve found them all. Four are earned by sniffing out secret exits to certain levels. The other four are cleverly hidden in the overworld. We’ve put together two videos to point you right toward all eight of them.
Source: Destructoid Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair guide: All secret exits and hidden bees