Honey bee forage in Bull Valley, Illinois

When is the honey flow in Bull Valley?

• First forage: Mar 1 (early trees (maple, willow, poplar), dandelion)
• Main flow: Apr 1 to Aug 15, peaking early May (clovers: white, alsike and red, soybeans, dandelion)
• Season ends: Oct 15

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Bull Valley, 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 May 9.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): clovers: white, alsike and red, early trees (maple, willow, poplar), dandelion, summer-flowering trees (locust, linden); light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Summer honey (July and August): soybeans, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber, likely to set over some months
• Fall honey (September to November): clovers: white, alsike and red, fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), dandelion, garden flowers; light amber, likely to set over some months
• Whole season (March to November): clovers: white, alsike and red, soybeans, dandelion, early trees (maple, willow, poplar); extra light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid

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

Bee crops within flight range

• Soybeans: about 65 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug (grown 2 of the last 5 years)
• Corn: about 98 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Aug (grown 3 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 Bull Valley

Mostly: North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland; Corn; Eastern Cool Temperate Pasture and Hayland.

Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.21 mi N; mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.46 mi S.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Apples: insecticides used on about 77% of surveyed US acres (2025). 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 Bull Valley ranks

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

About 65% of the land here is scored with national averages for its vegetation type rather than measured plant cover, so the wild-plant part of this estimate is rougher than the crop part.

Nearby

Wonder Lake 4 mi · McHenry 4 mi · Ridgefield 4 mi · Woodstock 4 mi · McCullom Lake 4 mi · Greenwood 5 mi

All towns in Illinois · 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 Bull Valley (42.3235, -88.3609); 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.