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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 43.8524, -75.9422

Estimated forage here is better than about 77% of sites in New York. Against other New York sites it stands out most in summer (83rd percentile) and lowest in spring (57th). Biggest nearby bee crops: corn (nearest 0.1 mi N, grown 2 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi SE, grown 2 of the last 5 years); soybeans (nearest 0.4 mi S, grown 2 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river, less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 68th percentile (spring 65th, summer 76th, fall 61st)
  • New York: 77th percentile (spring 57th, summer 83rd, fall 69th)
  • Northeastern Highlands: 94th percentile (spring 58th, summer 99th, fall 97th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
  • Main flow: Apr 16 to Aug 15 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Alfalfa
  • Season ends: Oct 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Corn: about 91 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SE, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Corn: about 317 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi W, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Corn: about 714 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi N, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Corn: about 91 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi NW, blooms late Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 25 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SE, blooms late Jun – early Sep
  • Soybeans: about 12 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi S, blooms early Jul – early Sep

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden); light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Soybeans, Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden); white
  • Fall honey (September to November): Alfalfa, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Alfalfa, Dandelion; extra 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.