Honey bee forage in Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania

When is the honey flow in Beaver Meadows?

• First forage: Mar 1 (early trees (maple, willow, poplar), dandelion)
• Main flow: Apr 16 to Jun 30, peaking early May (early trees (maple, willow, poplar), clovers: white, alsike and red, summer-flowering shrubs)
• Fall flow: Jul 16 to Jul 31 (summer-flowering shrubs, clovers: white, alsike and red, fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster))
• Season ends: Oct 15

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Beaver Meadows, 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 10.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): early trees (maple, willow, poplar), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, summer-flowering shrubs; light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Summer honey (July and August): summer-flowering shrubs, clovers: white, alsike and red, fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), dandelion; light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Fall honey (September to November): fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion, garden flowers; light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Whole season (March to November): early trees (maple, willow, poplar), summer-flowering shrubs, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; 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 12 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug (grown 4 of the last 5 years)
• Corn: about 31 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi S, 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 Beaver Meadows

Mostly: Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest; Central Appalachian Oak Rocky Woodland; Central Appalachian Dry Oak Forest.

Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer) 0.18 mi S; creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.19 mi S.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Pumpkins: insecticides used on about 75% of surveyed US acres (2024); Squash: insecticides used on about 71% 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 Beaver Meadows ranks

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

About 79% 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

Tresckow 3 mi · Hazleton 3 mi · Jeddo 4 mi · McAdoo 5 mi · Weatherly 5 mi · Harleigh 5 mi

All towns in Pennsylvania · 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 Beaver Meadows (40.9299, -75.9131); 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.