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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 47.3186, -114.0939

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 (70th). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi E, grown 4 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), 0.15 mi SW.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 91st percentile (spring 70th, summer 89th, fall 91st)
  • Montana: 100th percentile (spring 100th, summer 99th, fall 70th)
  • Northern Rockies: 98th percentile (spring 94th, summer 97th, fall 93rd)

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

Season

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

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 3,566 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 490 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.5 mi S, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 817 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.9 mi NW, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 280 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.3 mi NW, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 361 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.8 mi SE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 43 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

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