Honey bee forage in Legend Lake, Wisconsin

When is the honey flow in Legend Lake?

• First forage: Mar 1 (early trees (maple, willow, poplar))
• Main flow: Apr 16 to Jul 15, peaking late May (early trees (maple, willow, poplar), clovers: white, alsike and red, summer-flowering trees (locust, linden))
• Season ends: Oct 15

Forage available to a colony through the year at the center of Legend Lake, from what grows within flight range (about 3.7 miles) and when it blooms here. Dates are the model's estimate for a typical year; the spring index for this spot falls on May 18.

What the honey is made of

• Spring honey (March to June): early trees (maple, willow, poplar), dandelion, clovers: white, alsike and red, summer-flowering trees (locust, linden); light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Summer honey (July and August): summer-flowering shrubs, clovers: white, alsike and red, summer-flowering trees (locust, linden), roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard); extra light amber, likely to stay liquid a long time
• Fall honey (September to November): dandelion, clovers: white, alsike and red, roadside weeds (clover, dandelion, sweet clover, mustard), summer-flowering shrubs; light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid
• Whole season (March to November): early trees (maple, willow, poplar), summer-flowering shrubs, clovers: white, alsike and red, dandelion; light amber, mixed: part of it sets quickly, part stays liquid

Nectar-source estimate (plants weighted by how much bees favor them), not a pollen analysis. Full honey estimate.

Bee crops within flight range

• Buckwheat: about 1 acres in a typical year, nearest 1 mi SE, blooms early Jul – early Oct (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Alfalfa: about 302 acres in a typical year, nearest 3.1 mi NE, blooms late Jun – early Sep (grown 5 of the last 5 years)
• Soybeans: about 28 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.8 mi E, blooms early Jul – early Sep (grown 1 of the last 5 years)
• Corn: about 51 acres in a typical year, nearest 2.8 mi E, blooms late Jul – late Aug (grown 2 of the last 5 years)

From USDA's crop maps for 2021–2025; fields rotate, so a crop counts by how often it was grown. Listing a field says nothing about its owner.

The land and water around Legend Lake

Mostly: Laurentian-Acadian Alkaline Conifer-Hardwood Swamp; Laurentian-Acadian Northern Hardwoods Forest; Laurentian-Acadian Northern Pine-(Oak) Forest.

Nearest mapped water: creek, wetland or wet meadow 0.06 mi N; pond, lake or river 0.14 mi S.

Things to watch

• Bee crops nearby that are often sprayed. Pumpkins: insecticides used on about 75% of surveyed US acres (2024). Figures are from USDA's Agricultural Chemical Use Survey, matched by crop type from the crop map. The survey counts any insecticide use in the crop year (not seed treatments) and doesn't say when; ask nearby growers about spray timing.

How Legend Lake ranks

Percentiles among 3,000 random land points in each region, scored the same way: land in general, not beekeepers' apiaries.

About 70% of the land here is scored with national averages for its vegetation type rather than measured plant cover, so the wild-plant part of this estimate is rougher than the crop part.

Nearby

Keshena 3 mi · Cecil 7 mi · Shawano 9 mi · Middle Village 9 mi · Pulcifer 9 mi · Thornton 10 mi

All towns in Wisconsin · National map · How the scoring works

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. The point is the Census Bureau's published center of Legend Lake (44.8951, -88.5431); a yard a mile or two away can differ, so check your own spot. The FEMA flood map was not checked for this page. Benchmark 2026.5, built 2026-10-19. How this works · All sources.