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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.

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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 46.1398, -115.9728

Estimated forage here is better than about 97% of sites in Idaho. Against other Idaho sites it stands out most in spring (99th percentile) and lowest in fall (9th). Biggest nearby bee crops: canola (nearest 1.0 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 1.6 mi S, grown 3 of the last 5 years); chickpeas (nearest 3.3 mi W, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.24 mi SW.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 82nd percentile (spring 81st, summer 82nd, fall 45th)
  • Idaho: 97th percentile (spring 99th, summer 79th, fall 9th)
  • Northern Rockies: 87th percentile (spring 99th, summer 43rd, fall 26th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 1 — Willows, Dandelion
  • Main flow: Apr 16 to Jul 15 — Snowberry, Native wildflowers
  • Fall flow: Aug 1 to Aug 15 — Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed
  • Season ends: Sep 30

Bee crops nearby

  • Canola: about 1 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi SE, blooms late Apr – early Jul
  • Alfalfa: about 258 acres in a typical year, nearest 3 mi SW, blooms late Jun – early Aug
  • Canola: about 40 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.5 mi W, blooms late Apr – early Jul
  • Alfalfa: about 30 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.6 mi W, blooms late Jun – early Aug
  • Canola: about 20 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.5 mi W, blooms late Apr – early Jul
  • Alfalfa: about 18 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.5 mi W, blooms late Jun – early Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Snowberry, Willows, Dandelion, Native wildflowers; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Native wildflowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Garden flowers; light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Snowberry, Native wildflowers, Dandelion, Willows; 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.