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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 40.7385, -88.7274

Estimated forage here is better than about 90% of sites in Illinois. Against other Illinois sites it stands out most in summer (72nd percentile) and lowest in spring (54th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (right here, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (right here, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.18 mi NW.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 98th percentile (spring 42nd, summer 98th, fall 32nd)
  • Illinois: 90th percentile (spring 54th, summer 72nd, fall 67th)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 86th percentile (spring 76th, summer 56th, fall 72nd)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Illinois, 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 7,759 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 7,726 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi NW, blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 6,963 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms early Jul – late Jul
  • Corn: about 7,772 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi W, blooms early Jul – late Jul
  • Soybeans: about 90 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SW, blooms early Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 133 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi N, blooms early Jun – late 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; extra 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.