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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 41.4558, -89.6689

Estimated forage here is better than about 40% of sites in Illinois. Spring, summer and fall all rank about the same against other Illinois sites. Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.2 mi E, grown 4 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.2 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years); clover and wildflowers (nearest 1.7 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.13 mi E.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 90th percentile (spring 37th, summer 94th, fall 22nd)
  • Illinois: 40th percentile (spring 48th, summer 46th, fall 53rd)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 32nd percentile (spring 71st, summer 30th, fall 64th)

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: Jul 1 to Aug 15 — Soybeans
  • Season ends: Aug 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 20,412 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 9,257 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 81 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 12 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 30 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 66 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.7 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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