Bee forage check

How good is this spot for honey bees?

Enter an address or tap the map. You'll see which bee plants and crops are within flight range (about 3.7 miles, with nearer land counting more), when the honey flow comes and when there's a dearth, nearby water, a few things worth checking, and how the spot ranks against random sites in your state and across the country.

Or tap the map. We don't store your address or exact location.

Forage on the map in —

National map

The colors are the national forage map: every square kilometer of the lower 48, scored the same way. See the honey flow for your state and town, the best and worst spots we found, or how the scoring works.

Forage report for 38.0951, -81.3220

Estimated forage here is better than about 60% of sites in West Virginia. Against other West Virginia sites it stands out most in spring (73rd percentile) and lowest in summer (16th). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

Continental US: 59th percentile (spring 91st, summer 26th, fall 45th)
West Virginia: 60th percentile (spring 73rd, summer 16th, fall 60th)
Central Appalachians: 76th percentile (spring 82nd, summer 40th, fall 55th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across West Virginia, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.

Season

First forage: Feb 1 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
Main flow: Mar 16 to May 31 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden)
Season ends: Oct 31

What the honey would be made of

Spring honey (March to June): Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs, Spring-flowering shrubs; light amber
Summer honey (July and August): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Summer-flowering shrubs, Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Native wildflowers; light amber
Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); amber
Whole season (March to November): Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); light amber

Things to watch

Flood map not checked. FEMA's flood map service didn't answer. Check it directly.

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. Honey composition is a nectar-source estimate, not a pollen analysis. Benchmark 2026.5. How this works.