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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 43.2118, -116.5485

Estimated forage here is better than about 33% of sites in Idaho. Against other Idaho sites it stands out most in spring (68th percentile) and lowest in summer (24th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.3 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.8 mi NE, grown 2 of the last 5 years); sweet corn (nearest 3.2 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 30th percentile (spring 35th, summer 55th, fall 85th)
  • Idaho: 33rd percentile (spring 68th, summer 24th, fall 65th)
  • Snake River Plain: 38th percentile (spring 61st, summer 33rd, fall 59th)

Percentile among 3,000 random land points across Idaho, scored the same way; land in general, not beekeepers' yards.

Season

  • First forage: Feb 16 — Weedy mustards, Dandelion
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Sep 15 — Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Yellow starthistle
  • Fall flow: Oct 1 to Oct 15 — Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Rubber rabbitbrush, Spotted and diffuse knapweed
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 77 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi SE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Corn: about 56 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 41 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi NE, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Corn: about 20 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 31 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi E, blooms early Jun – early Aug
  • Corn: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.3 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Weedy mustards, Native wildflowers, Dandelion, Spotted and diffuse knapweed; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Yellow starthistle, Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Rubber rabbitbrush; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Rubber rabbitbrush, Yellow starthistle, Spotted and diffuse knapweed; amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Weedy mustards, Yellow starthistle, Green/yellow rabbitbrush; light amber

Things to watch

  • No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

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.