Honey bee forage in Cheraw, Colorado

When is the honey flow in Cheraw?

• First forage: Mar 1 (roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), dandelion)
• Main flow: Jun 1 to Aug 15, peaking late Jun (alfalfa)
• Season ends: Sep 30

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Cheraw, from what grows within flight range (about 3.7 miles) and when it blooms here. Dates are the model's estimate for a typical year; the spring index for this spot falls on Apr 20.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): alfalfa, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), dandelion, clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Summer honey (July and August): alfalfa, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); white, likely to set within weeks to a few months
• Fall honey (September to November): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), garden flowers, pumpkins; amber, likely to set over some months
• Whole season (March to November): alfalfa, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), dandelion, clovers: white, alsike and red; white, likely to set within weeks to a few months

Nectar-source estimate (plants weighted by how much bees favor them), not a pollen analysis. Full honey estimate.

Bee crops within flight range

• Alfalfa: about 3,512 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NE, blooms early Jun – early Aug (grown 3 of the last 5 years)
• Corn: about 48 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Jul (grown 2 of the last 5 years)
• Sorghum: about 27 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Jul (grown 3 of the last 5 years)
• Sunflower: about 4 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi W, blooms early Jun – early Aug (grown 1 of the last 5 years)

From USDA's crop maps for 2021–2025; fields rotate, so a crop counts by how often it was grown. Listing a field says nothing about its owner.

The land and water around Cheraw

Mostly: Western Great Plains Shortgrass Prairie; Alfalfa; Fallow / idle cropland.

Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.25 mi SE; pond, lake or river 0.31 mi S.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Pumpkins: insecticides used on about 75% of surveyed US acres (2024). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.

How Cheraw ranks

Percentiles among 3,000 random land points in each region, scored the same way: land in general, not beekeepers' apiaries.

Nearby

North La Junta 7 mi · La Junta Gardens 8 mi · Swink 9 mi · La Junta 9 mi · Sugar City 12 mi · Rocky Ford 12 mi

All towns in Colorado · National map · How the scoring works

An estimate from public maps (USDA crop maps 2021–2025 averaged, LANDFIRE vegetation), not a survey of the ground. Maps can't see garden plantings, understory density, other beekeepers' hives, or this year's weather. The point is the Census Bureau's published center of Cheraw (38.1077, -103.511); a yard a mile or two away can differ, so check your own spot. The FEMA flood map was not checked for this page. Benchmark 2026.5, built 2026-10-19. How this works · All sources.