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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 41.2816, -88.1432

Estimated forage here is better than about 20% of sites in Illinois. Against other Illinois sites it stands out most in fall (92nd percentile) and lowest in summer (21st). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi E, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.1 mi NE, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.13 mi S.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 84th percentile (spring 59th, summer 88th, fall 57th)
  • Illinois: 20th percentile (spring 73rd, summer 21st, fall 92nd)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 15th percentile (spring 87th, summer 14th, fall 86th)

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, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 182 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,836 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 213 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 280 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 2,843 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 114 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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