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.

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 38.2220, -81.4394

Estimated forage here is better than about 49% of sites in West Virginia. Against other West Virginia sites it stands out most in fall (57th percentile) and lowest in summer (24th). Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river, less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 56th percentile (spring 88th, summer 28th, fall 44th)
  • West Virginia: 49th percentile (spring 54th, summer 24th, fall 57th)
  • Central Appalachians: 62nd percentile (spring 59th, summer 48th, fall 51st)

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), Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Season ends: Sep 30

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering shrubs; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Summer-flowering shrubs, Garden flowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Garden flowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering shrubs; 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.