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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 40.9763, -81.8987

Estimated forage here is better than about 50% of sites in Ohio. Against other Ohio sites it stands out most in fall (79th percentile) and lowest in spring (40th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (right here, grown 3 of the last 5 years); soybeans (right here, grown 2 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.3 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river, 0.11 mi W.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 86th percentile (spring 61st, summer 89th, fall 51st)
  • Ohio: 50th percentile (spring 40th, summer 56th, fall 79th)
  • Erie Drift Plain: 82nd percentile (spring 38th, summer 86th, fall 59th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Ohio, 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, Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 1,328 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi N, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 49 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 201 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 951 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 95 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 529 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 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, Soybeans, Alfalfa; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Soybeans, Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion; white
  • Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Garden flowers, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Soybeans, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Alfalfa; 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.