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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 39.4532, -108.0031

Estimated forage here is better than about 26% of sites in Colorado. Against other Colorado sites it ranks highest in spring (47th percentile) and lowest in summer (32nd). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 0.4 mi N, grown 4 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.1 mi S.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 22nd percentile (spring 33rd, summer 50th, fall 69th)
  • Colorado: 26th percentile (spring 47th, summer 32nd, fall 43rd)
  • Colorado Plateaus: 88th percentile (spring 90th, summer 86th, fall 85th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Dandelion, Weedy mustards
  • Main flow: May 1 to Aug 31 — Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Spotted and diffuse knapweed
  • Fall flow: Sep 16 to Sep 30 — Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Rubber rabbitbrush, Spotted and diffuse knapweed
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 176 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 46 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 134 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 83 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 33 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Alfalfa, Spring-flowering shrubs; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Alfalfa, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering shrubs; extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Rubber rabbitbrush, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Rabbitbrush; amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Spotted and diffuse knapweed; extra 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.