Arcadia Bees
Nucs Queens About Nuc guide Forage Contact Join waitlist

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 42.1979, -89.5953

Estimated forage here is better than about 22% of sites in Illinois. Against other Illinois sites it stands out most in fall (61st percentile) and lowest in summer (35th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 3 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.1 mi W, grown 2 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.5 mi N, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.21 mi NW.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 86th percentile (spring 35th, summer 91st, fall 26th)
  • Illinois: 22nd percentile (spring 46th, summer 35th, fall 61st)
  • Central Corn Belt Plains: 16th percentile (spring 70th, summer 22nd, fall 69th)

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 19,534 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.1 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Soybeans: about 2,733 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 553 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi S, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 1,436 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 133 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Aug
  • Soybeans: about 36 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi NW, 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
  • 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, Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; extra light amber

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.