Glenn County Beekeeping Regulations

Apiaries must be 300 ft from any dwelling that is not yours and 100 ft from a public road, register annually with the county at $10, and keep water within 50 yards. The 300 ft is waived by an adequate flight barrier or the neighbour's written permission.

Hive limit: No hive limit. The county regulates placement, registration and movement rather than numbers.

Note: Read in full in 2026. Both published figures are confirmed, and nearly everything that makes them usable was missing. The 300 ft to a neighbouring dwelling has three exceptions, and one of them removes it outright: an adequate flight dispersing barrier accepted by the Agricultural Commissioner. The 100 ft road setback exempts crop pollination, but that exemption expires 30 days after bloom ends, so a pollination placement left in the field becomes a violation. Two further points. Glenn County runs its OWN apiary registration, due 1 January each year with a $10 fee and a colony count per location, which is in addition to statewide registration. And the enforcement remedy is unusually hard: a violation is a public nuisance and abatement may mean destruction of the apiary, with 14 days to comply and 10 days to appeal to the Board of Supervisors.

• No apiary may be closer than 300 feet to any house or building used as a dwelling other than one you own or possess. Three exceptions: the limit does not apply where adequate flight dispersing barriers such as a fence, tree line or building are built and maintained to the Agricultural Commissioner's satisfaction; it does not apply where the affected resident gives written permission waiving the distance; and where the residence arrived AFTER the apiary was already in year-round operation, it applies only if the Commissioner separately determines the bees endanger health or safety or unreasonably interfere with others' property. 7.30.080
• No apiary may be closer than 100 feet from the exterior line of the traveled portion of a public road right of way without the Commissioner's prior approval. Temporary transport is exempt, and so is pollination of an agricultural crop — but a pollinating apiary loses that exemption 30 days after the crop bloom is complete. 7.30.080
• Every apiary in the county must register with the Glenn County Agricultural Commissioner by 1 January or within 30 days after, for a $10 fee, listing the location of each apiary and the number of colonies at each. An apiary brought into the county at another time of year and not registered in another California county must register within 30 days of arriving. 7.30.070
• Water is required: either a natural supply within one mile that is no farther away than any artificial supply kept by someone who has not consented to the apiary, or a plentiful fresh supply maintained by the beekeeper within 50 yards of the hives. 7.30.090
• An apiary on premises other than your residence must carry a sign on its entrance side, in black letters at least one inch high on a contrasting background, giving the name, address and telephone number of the owner or possessor, or stating there is no telephone. 7.30.050
• Written permission from the landowner or person entitled to possession must be obtained before placing the apiary, and produced to the Commissioner on request. 7.30.060
• Anyone bringing non-resident bees, hosts or possible carriers into the county must notify the Agricultural Commissioner within 48 hours of arrival. Resident bees from Butte, Colusa, Tehama and Shasta counties need only notify on their first movement into Glenn County each year. 7.30.110
• An apiary may not be kept so as to hinder an inspector's access to the inside of a hive, and on written request the keeper has five days to give the Commissioner a list of the number and current location of every colony they control in the county. Africanized honey bees may not knowingly be kept. 7.30.080, 7.30.120
• Every violation of the chapter is a public nuisance. Abatement means relocation OR DESTRUCTION of the apiary as the Commissioner determines. A Notice to Abate gives 14 calendar days to act and 10 calendar days to request a hearing before the Board of Supervisors, and abatement costs can become a special assessment and a lien on the property. 7.30.140, 7.30.150, 7.30.170

Hobby beekeeping is allowed in any zoning district on a lot of at least 6,000 sq ft with an occupied building, up to three colonies, under a zoning clearance and signed affidavit. Commercial beekeeping is not permitted in the city.

Hive limit: Three colonies on a lot of at least 6,000 sq ft with an occupied structure, in any zoning district. Commercial beekeeping is not allowed in the city at all.

Note: Read in full in 2026 and rewritten. This card previously said there were no municipal codes for apiaries in Orland. The city adopted a full beekeeping ordinance in 2020: hobby keeping is allowed in ANY zoning district on a lot of at least 6,000 sq ft with an occupied building, up to three colonies, subject to a zoning clearance and a signed affidavit. Note two things a beekeeper should plan for. Commercial beekeeping is not permitted inside the city at all, so the three-colony hobby allowance is the whole of what is available. And the water rule has an unusual twist: if a neighbouring residential property has a pond or pool, your colonies must be positioned closer to your own water source than to theirs.

• A zoning clearance from the city planner is required, along with a signed affidavit certifying that the owner or occupant understands and will comply with the standards below. 6.04.610(A)
• Any lot in any zoning district with at least 6,000 square feet of area and an occupied residential dwelling or non-residential structure may hold up to three colonies, each housed in an enclosed hive structure. 6.04.610(A)(1)
• Hives are brood chambers and supers combined, and may not exceed six feet above ground level including any stand or rack. 6.04.610(A)(2)
• Hives must be registered with the Glenn County Agricultural Commissioner's Office under California Food and Agricultural Code § 29040. 6.04.610(A)(3)
• Flight dispersion barriers at least six feet tall, such as solid fences, walls or hedges, must be kept in good condition to the city's satisfaction. 6.04.610(A)(4)
• An appropriately sized water source for the colonies' exclusive use must be kept on the same property. Where an abutting residential property has a natural or artificial water source, the colonies must sit nearer to the on-site source than to that one. 6.04.610(A)(5)
• A site plan and any further information the city needs must be provided, and no person may willingly and knowingly keep Africanized bees. 6.04.610(A)(6), (7)
• Exhibition hives in public spaces, hives inside an enclosed building and educational demonstration hives are exempt from these provisions. 6.04.610(A)(8)
• Keeping bees for commercial purposes is not permitted inside the city limits of Orland. 6.04.610(B)

Apiaries are a principal permitted use in the AG Agriculture General district, as part of general agriculture. No hive count, setback or permit is attached.

Hive limit: No hive limit stated. The rule is which district you are in, not how many hives you keep.

Note: Read in 2026. Apiaries are named as part of general agriculture, a principal permitted use in the AG district, and the code attaches no hive count, setback or permit to them. The gate is zoning: this allowance is for the AG district, so it does not tell you what is possible on a residential lot in Willows. The only bee reference found in the code is this one. Confirm with the city before keeping bees outside the AG district.

• General agriculture is a principal permitted use, and the definition expressly includes apiaries alongside field and tree crops, dairying, pasturage, tree farming, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture and animal and poultry husbandry. 18.85.020(2)