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 46.5573, -111.9972

Estimated forage here is better than about 55% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in spring (69th percentile) and lowest in summer (48th). Biggest nearby bee crops: mustard (nearest 3.4 mi NE, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 3.3 mi E, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.19 mi N.

Ranking

Continental US: 37th percentile (spring 29th, summer 64th, fall 87th)
Montana: 55th percentile (spring 69th, summer 48th, fall 56th)
Middle Rockies: 69th percentile (spring 89th, summer 52nd, fall 52nd)

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

Season

First forage: Apr 1 — Dandelion, Willows, Arrowleaf balsamroot
Main flow: May 16 to Sep 15 — Snowberry, Native wildflowers, Spotted and diffuse knapweed
Season ends: Nov 15

Bee crops nearby

Mustard: about 3 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.4 mi NE, blooms late Jun – late Jul
Alfalfa: about 4 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.3 mi E, blooms late Jul – early Sep
Alfalfa: about 99 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.7 mi NE, blooms late Jul – early Sep

What the honey would be made of

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