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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 47.6188, -114.6563

Estimated forage here is better than about 99% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in spring and summer (99th percentile) and lowest in fall (75th). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 0.2 mi SE, grown 3 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: mapped stream or canal (may be dry in late summer), less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 89th percentile (spring 63rd, summer 89th, fall 92nd)
  • Montana: 99th percentile (spring 99th, summer 99th, fall 75th)
  • Northern Rockies: 98th percentile (spring 85th, summer 97th, fall 94th)

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, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: May 1 to Aug 31 — Clovers: white, alsike and red, Snowberry, Alfalfa
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 337 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi SE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 858 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 1,759 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.7 mi NE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 23 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.2 mi SE, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 48 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug
  • Alfalfa: about 246 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi E, blooms early Jul – late Aug

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Dandelion, Snowberry, Native wildflowers; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Alfalfa, Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Clovers: white, alsike and red; 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): Clovers: white, alsike and red, Snowberry, Alfalfa, Dandelion; 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.