diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/misc/bees.nix b/nixos/modules/services/misc/bees.nix
index b16552a8eecd..2815bb035cb7 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/misc/bees.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/misc/bees.nix
@@ -97,42 +97,29 @@ in
       '';
     };
   };
-  config = {
+  config = lib.mkIf (cfg.filesystems != { }) {
+    systemd.packages = [ pkgs.bees ];
     systemd.services = lib.mapAttrs' (
       name: fs:
       lib.nameValuePair "beesd@${name}" {
-        description = "Block-level BTRFS deduplication for %i";
-        after = [ "sysinit.target" ];
-
-        serviceConfig =
-          let
-            configOpts = [
-              fs.spec
-              "verbosity=${toString fs.verbosity}"
-              "idxSizeMB=${toString fs.hashTableSizeMB}"
-              "workDir=${fs.workDir}"
+        overrideStrategy = "asDropin";
+        serviceConfig = {
+          ExecStart =
+            let
+              configOpts = [
+                fs.spec
+                "verbosity=${toString fs.verbosity}"
+                "idxSizeMB=${toString fs.hashTableSizeMB}"
+                "workDir=${fs.workDir}"
+              ];
+              configOptsStr = lib.escapeShellArgs configOpts;
+            in
+            [
+              ""
+              "${pkgs.bees}/bin/bees-service-wrapper run ${configOptsStr} -- --no-timestamps ${lib.escapeShellArgs fs.extraOptions}"
             ];
-            configOptsStr = lib.escapeShellArgs configOpts;
-          in
-          {
-            # Values from https://github.com/Zygo/bees/blob/v0.6.5/scripts/beesd@.service.in
-            ExecStart = "${pkgs.bees}/bin/bees-service-wrapper run ${configOptsStr} -- --no-timestamps ${lib.escapeShellArgs fs.extraOptions}";
-            ExecStopPost = "${pkgs.bees}/bin/bees-service-wrapper cleanup ${configOptsStr}";
-            CPUAccounting = true;
-            CPUSchedulingPolicy = "batch";
-            CPUWeight = 12;
-            IOSchedulingClass = "idle";
-            IOSchedulingPriority = 7;
-            IOWeight = 10;
-            KillMode = "control-group";
-            KillSignal = "SIGTERM";
-            MemoryAccounting = true;
-            Nice = 19;
-            Restart = "on-abnormal";
-            StartupCPUWeight = 25;
-            StartupIOWeight = 25;
-            SyslogIdentifier = "beesd"; # would otherwise be "bees-service-wrapper"
-          };
+          SyslogIdentifier = "beesd"; # would otherwise be "bees-service-wrapper"
+        };
         unitConfig.RequiresMountsFor = lib.mkIf (lib.hasPrefix "/" fs.spec) fs.spec;
         wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
       }