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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 47.1828, -111.8188

Estimated forage here is better than about 66% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in spring (92nd percentile) and lowest in fall (43rd). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 0.6 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years); corn (nearest 3.0 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river, 0.38 mi S.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 46th percentile (spring 42nd, summer 67th, fall 81st)
  • Montana: 66th percentile (spring 92nd, summer 54th, fall 43rd)
  • Northwestern Great Plains: 70th percentile (spring 92nd, summer 69th, fall 22nd)

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, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Main flow: May 1 to Aug 31 — Snowberry, Native wildflowers, Spotted and diffuse knapweed
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 3 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi SE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 158 acres in a typical year, nearest 3 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 58 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.6 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 4 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.9 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 31 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.5 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Corn: about 2 acres in a typical year, nearest 3 mi E, blooms late Jul – late Sep

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Dandelion, Native wildflowers, Willows, Clovers: white, alsike and red; light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Native wildflowers, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Green/yellow rabbitbrush, Snowberry; amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Native wildflowers, Dandelion; 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.