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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 46.9181, -116.8256

Estimated forage here is better than about 68% of sites in Idaho. Against other Idaho sites it stands out most in spring (88th percentile) and lowest in fall (19th). Biggest nearby bee crops: chickpeas (right here, grown 1 of the last 5 years); canola (nearest 0.4 mi N, grown 1 of the last 5 years); alfalfa (nearest 0.9 mi W, grown 4 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.31 mi NW.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 58th percentile (spring 49th, summer 76th, fall 57th)
  • Idaho: 68th percentile (spring 88th, summer 56th, fall 19th)
  • Columbia Plateau: 65th percentile (spring 52nd, summer 77th, fall 26th)

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

Season

  • First forage: Mar 16 — Willows, Dandelion
  • Main flow: May 1 to Jul 31 — Canola, Snowberry, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Season ends: Oct 15

Bee crops nearby

  • Chickpeas: about 61 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi , blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Canola: about 15 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi N, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Canola: about 10 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi N, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Chickpeas: about 35 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.4 mi W, blooms early Jul – early Aug
  • Canola: about 11 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi NW, blooms early May – late Jul
  • Canola: about 14 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi E, blooms early May – late Jul

What the honey would be made of

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