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 46.7308, -112.0596

Estimated forage here is better than about 65% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in spring (87th percentile) and lowest in summer (51st). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 1.5 mi SE); camelina (nearest 1.3 mi SW, grown 1 of the last 5 years); millet (nearest 2.6 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.21 mi NE.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 44th percentile (spring 36th, summer 65th, fall 93rd)
  • Montana: 65th percentile (spring 87th, summer 51st, fall 76th)
  • Middle Rockies: 79th percentile (spring 94th, summer 55th, fall 69th)

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, Arrowleaf balsamroot
  • Main flow: May 1 to Sep 15 — Native wildflowers, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion
  • Fall flow: Oct 1 to Oct 15 — Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Rubber rabbitbrush, Dandelion
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 85 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.2 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 168 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.6 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 15 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.5 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 105 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.5 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 27 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.9 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Sep
  • Alfalfa: about 508 acres in a typical year, nearest 3 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Sep

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Dandelion, Clovers: white, alsike and red, Native wildflowers, Arrowleaf balsamroot; 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): Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Rubber rabbitbrush, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Dandelion; amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Native wildflowers, Spotted and diffuse knapweed; 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.