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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 48.7892, -107.9681

Estimated forage here is better than about 24% of sites in Montana. Against other Montana sites it ranks highest in summer (48th percentile) and lowest in fall (15th). Biggest nearby bee crops: lentils (right here, grown 1 of the last 5 years); mustard (nearest 0.4 mi E, grown 1 of the last 5 years); peas (nearest 1.0 mi SE, grown 1 of the last 5 years). Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow, 0.14 mi W.

Ranking

  • Continental US: 23rd percentile (spring 12th, summer 64th, fall 65th)
  • Montana: 24th percentile (spring 16th, summer 48th, fall 15th)
  • Northwestern Glaciated Plains: 8th percentile (spring 14th, summer 26th, fall 21st)

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

Season

  • First forage: Apr 16 — Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Dandelion, Native wildflowers
  • Main flow: Jun 16 to Jul 31 — Lentils, Mustard, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard)
  • Season ends: Oct 31

Bee crops nearby

  • Lentils: about 294 acres in a typical year, nearest 0 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Mustard: about 58 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.1 mi W, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Mustard: about 12 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi E, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Mustard: about 273 acres in a typical year, nearest 2 mi SW, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Lentils: about 40 acres in a typical year, nearest 0.6 mi N, blooms late Jun – late Jul
  • Peas: about 92 acres in a typical year, nearest 1.2 mi W, blooms late May – early Jul

What the honey would be made of

  • Spring honey (March to June): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Mustard, Lentils, Peas; extra light amber
  • Summer honey (July and August): Lentils, Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Mustard, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); extra light amber
  • Fall honey (September to November): Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster), Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); light amber
  • Whole season (March to November): Roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), Lentils, Mustard, Fall wildflowers (goldenrod, aster); extra light amber

Things to watch

  • No digital FEMA flood map here. FEMA has no digital flood map for this area. Ask the county, and look for low ground near creeks before placing hives.

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.