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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.

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 46.6923, -114.0625

Estimated forage here is better than about 100% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in spring (100th percentile) and lowest in fall (49th). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 0.9 mi S, grown 3 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 1.0 mi SW, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 97th percentile (spring 98th, summer 85th, fall 84th)
  • Montana: 100th percentile (spring 100th, summer 95th, fall 49th)
  • Middle Rockies: 100th percentile (spring 100th, summer 98th, fall 44th)

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

Season

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

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 28 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi W, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 22 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.4 mi NW, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 13 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi N, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 11 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.5 mi W, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 4 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi S, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 7 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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