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.

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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 39.9157, -106.7254

Estimated forage here is better than about 14% of sites in Colorado. Against other Colorado sites it ranks highest in spring (33rd percentile) and lowest in summer (14th). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi N, grown 4 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 13th percentile (spring 20th, summer 38th, fall 60th)
  • Colorado: 14th percentile (spring 33rd, summer 14th, fall 28th)
  • Southern Rockies: 18th percentile (spring 58th, summer 13th, fall 32nd)

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

Season

  • First forage: Apr 1 — Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Native wildflowers
  • Main flow: May 16 to Sep 15 — Alfalfa, Spring-flowering shrubs, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 63 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 15 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi N, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 8 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 13 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 20 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 142 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.7 mi N, blooms early Jul – early Sep

What the honey would be made of

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