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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 40.6613, -86.2445

Estimated forage here is better than about 84% of sites in Indiana. Against other Indiana sites it stands out most in summer (74th percentile) and lowest in spring (42nd). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi SW, grown 2 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 3 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.5 mi SE). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away. 2 things to watch (below).

Ranking

  • Continental US: 96th percentile (spring 42nd, summer 97th, fall 24th)
  • Indiana: 84th percentile (spring 42nd, summer 74th, fall 55th)
  • Eastern Corn Belt Plains: 70th percentile (spring 45th, summer 63rd, fall 59th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Apr 1 — Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 14,840 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 14,370 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 42 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 36 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi N, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi SE, blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 227 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.1 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans
  • Fall honey (September to November): Garden flowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber

Things to watch

  • Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Pumpkins: insecticides used on about 75% of surveyed US acres (2024). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.
  • Near a FEMA high-risk flood zone. A mapped high-risk flood zone (A) is within about 300 m. Check FEMA's map for the exact spot.

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.