Arcadia Bees
Nucs Queens About Nuc guide Forage Contact Join waitlist

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 40.0313, -87.9571

Estimated forage here is better than about 85% of sites in Illinois. Against other Illinois sites it stands out most in summer (69th percentile) and lowest in fall (53rd). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi S, grown 2 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.2 mi S, grown 3 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.6 mi W, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.33 mi SE.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 97th percentile (spring 44th, summer 97th, fall 22nd)
  • Illinois: 85th percentile (spring 56th, summer 69th, fall 53rd)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 79th percentile (spring 77th, summer 53rd, fall 64th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 11,555 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi S, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Corn: about 11,571 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 1,057 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.1 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Corn: about 2,325 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.1 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 1,284 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.8 mi NW, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 15 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.8 mi N, blooms early Jun – early Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans
  • Fall honey (September to November): Garden flowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber

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.