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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 41.2860, -88.2514

Estimated forage here is better than about 29% of sites in Illinois. Against other Illinois sites it stands out most in fall (94th percentile) and lowest in summer (25th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi SW, grown 4 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 0.1 mi SW, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: open water, 0.13 mi E.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 87th percentile (spring 61st, summer 89th, fall 61st)
  • Illinois: 29th percentile (spring 75th, summer 25th, fall 94th)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 21st percentile (spring 88th, summer 16th, fall 89th)

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, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Soybeans: about 3,150 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 3,520 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi SW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Corn: about 840 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 126 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 42 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 60 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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