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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Forage on the map in —

National map

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 46.4304, -86.6201

Estimated forage here is better than about 38% of sites in Michigan. Spring, summer and fall all rank about the same against other Michigan sites. Nearest mapped water: open water, less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

Continental US: 64th percentile (spring 64th, summer 74th, fall 50th)
Michigan: 38th percentile (spring 51st, summer 56th, fall 47th)
Northern Lakes and Forests: 63rd percentile (spring 41st, summer 86th, fall 71st)

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

Season

First forage: Mar 16 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar)
Main flow: May 1 to Jul 15 — Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden)
Season ends: Oct 15

What the honey would be made of

Spring honey (March to June): Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
Summer honey (July and August): Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Summer-flowering shrubs, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Early trees (maple, willow, poplar); extra light amber
Fall honey (September to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Summer-flowering shrubs, Garden flowers; light amber
Whole season (March to November): Early trees (maple, willow, poplar), Summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), Clovers: white, alsike and red, Summer-flowering shrubs; 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.