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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 46.2394, -116.6256

Estimated forage here is better than about 91% of sites in Idaho. Against other Idaho sites it stands out most in spring (90th percentile) and lowest in fall (37th). Biggest nearby bee crops: canola (nearest 0.5 mi N, grown 1 of the last 5 years); peas (nearest 0.9 mi N, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.3 mi N, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.11 mi S.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 75th percentile (spring 52nd, summer 84th, fall 71st)
  • Idaho: 91st percentile (spring 90th, summer 88th, fall 37th)
  • Northern Rockies: 68th percentile (spring 62nd, summer 64th, fall 79th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Willows, Dandelion
  • Main flow: May 16 to Aug 15 — Snowberry, Canola, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Season ends: Oct 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Canola: about 37 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi N, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Canola: about 50 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi N, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Canola: about 18 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi E, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Canola: about 15 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi E, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Canola: about 15 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi NE, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Canola: about 11 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi E, blooms early May – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

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