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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 41.6945, -89.0863

Estimated forage here is better than about 49% of sites in Illinois. Against other Illinois sites it stands out most in summer (57th percentile) and lowest in spring (40th). Biggest nearby bee crops: soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi N); corn (nearest 0.1 mi N, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.22 mi SW.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 92nd percentile (spring 27th, summer 95th, fall 19th)
  • Illinois: 49th percentile (spring 40th, summer 57th, fall 48th)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 39th percentile (spring 63rd, summer 40th, fall 60th)

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

  • Soybeans: about 7,668 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 15,420 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi N, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,787 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.8 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Corn: about 2,954 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,885 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi SE, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 35 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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