Arcadia Bees
Nucs Queens About Nuc guide Forage Contact Join waitlist

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 46.4702, -111.6665

Estimated forage here is better than about 79% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in spring (92nd percentile) and lowest in summer (65th). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 1.3 mi NE, grown 4 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: 57th percentile (spring 42nd, summer 73rd, fall 96th)
  • Montana: 79th percentile (spring 92nd, summer 65th, fall 88th)
  • Middle Rockies: 90th percentile (spring 96th, summer 78th, fall 83rd)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Willows, Dandelion
  • Main flow: May 16 to Sep 15 — Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Native wildflowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Season ends: Nov 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 207 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.7 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 63 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 60 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.9 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 22 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 66 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi NE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 52 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.3 mi NW, blooms early Jul – early Sep

What the honey would be made of

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

Things to watch

  • Flood map not checked. FEMA's flood map service didn't answer. Check it directly.

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.