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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 47.8640, -114.2749

Estimated forage here is better than about 93% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it stands out most in spring (96th percentile) and lowest in fall (57th). Biggest nearby bee crops: alfalfa (nearest 0.6 mi W, grown 3 of the last 5 years); peas (nearest 1.5 mi W, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: pond, lake or river, less than 0.1 mi away.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 74th percentile (spring 50th, summer 82nd, fall 87th)
  • Montana: 93rd percentile (spring 96th, summer 86th, fall 57th)
  • Northern Rockies: 66th percentile (spring 59th, summer 45th, fall 92nd)

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, Willows, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Main flow: May 16 to Aug 15 — Snowberry, Clovers: white, alsike and red
  • Fall flow: Sep 1 to Sep 15 — Snowberry, Spotted and diffuse knapweed, Alfalfa
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Alfalfa: about 110 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.7 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 83 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 6 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 4 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 2 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.8 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Oct
  • Alfalfa: about 7 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.6 mi NW, blooms late Jun – late Oct

What the honey would be made of

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