Home▸Entomology & Insect Behaviour▸Sizing an Apiary: Forage Capacity and Site Selection

🐝 Sizing an Apiary: Forage Capacity and Site Selection

Fly a hive's foraging radius over a live forage map, dial in season and colony count, and watch the site's carrying capacity and stocking verdict update in real time.

Entomology & Insect Behaviour3DModerate60 FPS

A live 3D forage map — meadow, crop bloom, orchard, hedgerow, forest, water and urban land — sits under a hive's foraging circle, turning land cover and season into a carrying-capacity number and a stocking verdict.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

Forage capacity isn't just "acres within flight range" — different land types yield wildly different nectar by season, and a nearby competing apiary halves the value of any forage the two ranges share.

🎮 How to Use

Set hive count and foraging radius, pick a season, and optionally add a competing apiary at a chosen distance. Watch forage available, demand and the site's stocking verdict update live, with foragers flying out to real bloom patches.

💡 Did You Know?

Commercial beekeepers often space migratory yards 3km or more apart specifically to avoid the kind of forage overlap this simulation lets you dial in with the competitor toggle.

⚙ Under the hood

Fly a hive's foraging radius over a live forage map, dial in season and colony count, and watch the site's carrying capacity and stocking verdict update in real time.

beeshiveforagingcolonysite selectioncapacityThree.js

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install