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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 40.9275, -77.5189

Estimated forage here is better than about 62% of sites in Pennsylvania. Against other Pennsylvania sites it stands out most in summer (83rd percentile) and lowest in spring (15th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.1 mi SW, grown 2 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi S, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 3 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: 58th percentile (spring 53rd, summer 76th, fall 50th)
  • Pennsylvania: 62nd percentile (spring 15th, summer 83rd, fall 48th)
  • Ridge and Valley: 53rd percentile (spring 3rd, summer 89th, fall 74th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Dandelion
  • Main flow: May 1 to Aug 31 — Alfalfa, Soybeans, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 725 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 91 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 98 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms late Jun – early Sep
  • Soybeans: about 160 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 12 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 9 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Alfalfa; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Alfalfa, Soybeans, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering shrubs; white
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Alfalfa, Dandelion; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Soybeans, Dandelion; extra 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.