Honey bee forage in Riverview Colony, Montana

When is the honey flow in Riverview Colony?

• First forage: May 1 (peas, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), canola)
• Main flow: Jun 1 to Jul 15, peaking late Jun (mustard, peas)
• Season ends: Sep 30

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Riverview Colony, 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 18.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): mustard, peas, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), canola; white, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Summer honey (July and August): mustard, lentils, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), chick Peas; white, likely to set over some months
• Fall honey (September to November): roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), spotted and diffuse knapweed, green/yellow rabbitbrush; light amber, likely to set over some months
• Whole season (March to November): mustard, peas, lentils, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); white, likely to set over some months

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

Bee crops within flight range

• Mustard: about 323 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi E, blooms early Jun – late Jul (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Peas: about 377 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NW, blooms late May – early Jul (grown 2 of the last 5 years)
• Lentils: about 602 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Jul (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 Riverview Colony

Mostly: Northwestern Great Plains Mixedgrass Prairie; Inter-Mountain Basins Big Sagebrush Steppe; Winter Wheat.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.02 mi S; open water 0.33 mi SE.

Things to watch

• Lots of crops with little or no bee value. About 42% of the land within 3 miles is in crops bees get little from (such as wheat and other grains).
• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Sweet Corn: insecticides used on about 44% 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 Riverview Colony ranks

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

Nearby

Twin Hills Colony 12 mi · Sunnybrook Colony 14 mi · Chester 23 mi · Camrose Colony 28 mi · Carter 28 mi · Joplin 29 mi

All towns in Montana · 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 Riverview Colony (48.1827, -111.0319); 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.