Napa County Beekeeping Regulations

A. Apiaries shall be permitted within the county consistent with all of the provisions of this section: 1.Apiaries shall consist of moveable frame hives in sound and useable condition. 2.Apiaries shall be operated and maintained in accordance with best management practices developed by the Napa County Beekeepers Association and as adopted by resolution of the board of supervisors. 3.Apiaries shall be screened from neighboring dwellings and public walkways. B.The provisions of this chapter, however, shall not authorize the keeping of bees in a manner constituting a public nuisance

• Apiaries shall be screened from neighboring dwellings and public walkways. 6.12.020
• The provisions of this chapter, however, shall not authorize the keeping of bees in a manner constituting a public nuisance as defined in subsection (B)(2) of Section 1.20.020, although no resolution of the board of supervisors shall be required to establish the public nuisance. 6.12.020

Apiaries are permitted with moveable frame hives and screening. The operating standards are the Napa County Beekeepers Association best management practices, adopted by council resolution rather than printed in the code.

Hive limit: No hive count and no setback are set in the code.

Note: American Canyon welcomes beekeeping and sets no hive limit, no setback and no permit, but the rules you must actually follow are not printed in the municipal code. The code says apiaries must be run according to best management practices developed by the Napa County Beekeepers Association and adopted by resolution of the city council, so that document is the one that binds you. Ask the city clerk for the adopted resolution and ask the association for its current practices, and check that the two match, because a resolution can lag behind a revised set of practices. What the code does require directly is straightforward: moveable frame hives in sound condition, and screening between your hives and neighbouring homes and public walkways. Note that a nuisance complaint is judged against the Napa County Code definition, and the city does not need to pass anything to call your hives a nuisance. Register with the Napa County Agricultural Commissioner as state law requires, and read the Napa County card alongside this one.

• Apiary means bees, comb, hives, appliances or colonies wherever kept, located or found. Bees means honey-producing insects of the genus Apis, including all life stages. Hive means any receptacle or container made or prepared for the use of bees, or which is inhabited by bees. 6.12.010
• Apiaries shall consist of moveable frame hives in sound and useable condition. 6.12.020(A)(1)
• Apiaries shall be operated and maintained in accordance with best management practices developed by the Napa County Beekeepers Association and adopted by resolution of the city council. 6.12.020(A)(2)
• Apiaries shall be screened from neighbouring dwellings and public walkways. 6.12.020(A)(3)
• Nothing in the chapter authorises keeping bees in a manner constituting a public nuisance as defined in section 1.20.020(B)(2) of the Napa County Code, and no council resolution is required to establish that public nuisance. 6.12.020(B)
• The Agricultural Commissioner may enter any premises where bees are kept, or where there is reason to believe bees are kept, to carry the chapter into effect. A violation draws notice and an order to abate from the Commissioner or a code enforcement officer. 6.12
• Nothing in the chapter excuses compliance with state laws applicable to apiaries. 6.12

Calistoga sets no beekeeping standards. Apiaries appear only within lists of agricultural uses.

Hive limit: No hive count, setback or permit anywhere in the code.

Note: Calistoga has no beekeeping chapter and sets no hive count, setback or permit. Apiaries appear only inside lists of agricultural uses, once among the permitted uses of a planned development district and once in the agricultural definition used by the cold water wells rules. The practical question is therefore which zoning district your parcel sits in and whether agricultural uses are permitted there, so start with the planning counter. Register with the Napa County Agricultural Commissioner as state law requires, and read the county card alongside this one.

• Permitted uses include horticulture, floriculture, viticulture, apiaries and related uses, excluding stockyards and the commercial feeding of animals. PD 2002-2
• The agricultural definition used by the wells chapter includes floriculture, viticulture, apiaries and animal farms, but excludes stockyards and the commercial feeding of garbage or offal to animals. Cold water wells

Beekeeping is allowed where the zoning district permits it, and the operative standards are the Napa County Beekeeper’s Association best management practices adopted by council resolution.

Hive limit: No number in the code. The suggested maximum is calculated from the lot and acreage provisions in the adopted BMPs.

Note: Napa is unusual and, for a beekeeper, unusually good. The code sets no side or rear setback and no hive number of its own. Instead it adopts the best management practices written by the Napa County Beekeeper’s Association, approved by council resolution, and those BMPs are where the hive count for your lot size and the screening and flyway standards actually live. So the first thing to obtain is not the municipal code but the association’s current BMP document, and joining the association is the practical way to stay current with it. Two rules do sit in the code: no apiary in a front setback, and screening at least six feet high. Check that your zoning district permits beekeeping before anything else, because the chapter only applies where the land use regulations already allow it.

• The purpose is to allow beekeeping while respecting the safety of persons near apiaries. Beekeeping can contribute to pollination and better harvests in gardens, and urban beekeeping is an important complement to urban food production and to the city’s natural resources goals in the General Plan Update 2020. 17.52.055(A)
• Beekeeping is allowed only as specifically permitted within the land use regulations for the established zoning districts, provided the standards of the section are met. 17.52.055(B)
• Apiaries must be operated and maintained in accordance with the best management practices for beekeeping in Napa County developed by the Napa County Beekeeper’s Association and adopted by resolution of the City Council. Every person owning, controlling or maintaining an apiary must adhere to the BMPs and keep bees in a condition that will reasonably prevent swarming and aggressive behaviour. 17.52.055(C)(1)-(2)
• Adequate water must be provided so bees do not seek it in neighbourhood swimming pools, birdbaths, ponds or other community bodies of water. Apiaries must consist of moveable comb hives in sound and useable condition. 17.52.055(C)(3)-(4)
• No side or rear setback is required, but screening, barriers, fencing and flyways must follow the standards in the BMPs. Apiaries may not sit in a front setback and must be behind screening six feet in height. 17.52.055(C)(5)-(6)
• The suggested maximum number of beehives is calculated in accordance with the lot and acreage provisions in the BMPs. 17.52.055(C)(7)
• "Apiary" means a place where one or more bee colonies are kept. "Bee colony" means a queen bee with a cluster of worker bees in all stages of life. "Beehive" means a structure with provisions for movable comb intended for habitation of bees. "Honey bees" means honey-producing insects of the genus Apis including all life stages, and is interchangeable with "bees". 17.06.030

Registration is required before an apiary is established. Two hives under 10,000 sq ft and four above, in rear yards only, either behind a six-foot screen or 25 ft from the neighbouring property line.

Hive limit: Two hives on a lot under 10,000 sq ft, four on a lot over 10,000 sq ft.

Note: Read in full in 2026. Both published figures are confirmed, and the lot thresholds the card omitted are now stated: two hives under 10,000 sq ft, four above. The citation has been corrected — the card pointed at Chapter 17.190, and the live provision is § 17.22.070, adopted in 2023, so anyone following the old reference landed nowhere. Two points worth planning around. Registration is not just a city form: you must also register with the Napa County agricultural commissioner, which is how you get notice of pesticide applications nearby. And swarming is listed as a nuisance in its own right, alongside abandonment, so an unmanaged hive is a violation even if it never bothers anyone.

• Beekeeping registration is required before an apiary is established. Plans showing compliance go to the community development director, the apiary must be registered with the Napa County agricultural commissioner so the keeper receives pesticide application notices under Food and Agricultural Code § 29101, and the applicant signs a statement agreeing to comply and holding the city harmless. 17.22.070(C)
• A maximum of two beehives per lot on a parcel under 10,000 square feet, and a maximum of four per lot on a parcel over 10,000 square feet. 17.22.070(B)(3), (4)
• Beehives are restricted to rear yards. For flight path height, either the hive entrance faces away from the neighbouring property and sits behind a solid six-foot fence or hedge running parallel to the property line, or the hive is at least 25 feet from the neighbouring property line. 17.22.070(B)(5), (6)
• The keeper must follow good management practices to reasonably prevent swarming and aggressive behaviour, and must provide adequate water so bees do not seek out neighbouring pools, birdbaths or ponds. 17.22.070(B)(1), (2)
• Bees or hives become a public nuisance under Chapter 17.13 if colonies show defensive or objectionable behaviour or interfere with normal use of neighbouring property, if colonies SWARM, if they do not conform to this section, or if hives are abandoned by the bees or by the owner. 17.22.070(D)

Two hives on residentially zoned land and ten on agriculturally zoned land, with a six-foot flyway barrier unless the hive entrance is more than 25 feet from the facing property line.

Hive limit: Two hives on residential property, ten on agricultural property. Mason bees of the genus Osmia are expressly covered as well as honey bees.

Note: Yountville allows two hives on residential land and ten on agricultural land, and it is the only code we have found anywhere in California that expressly covers mason bees of the genus Osmia alongside honey bees, so a mason bee house is contemplated rather than left in limbo. Keep hives out of the front setback and at least ten feet from any public right-of-way. The six-foot flyway barrier is required between the hive and the nearest property line, but sensibly it falls away where the neighbouring land is undeveloped or where your hive entrance is already more than 25 feet from the facing line, which on many lots removes the need for a fence entirely.

• No more than two hives hosting colonies of honeybees of the species Apis mellifera, or the keeping of bees of the genus Osmia, may be allowed on residentially zoned properties. 6.04.090(A)
• No more than ten hives may be allowed on agriculturally zoned properties. 6.04.090(A)
• Hives may not be located within a front setback area or within 10 feet of a public right-of-way. 6.04.090(B)
• A solid fence, wall, dense vegetation or combination at least six feet high must be established and maintained between the hive and the nearest property line, to force bees to fly at least six feet above ground level over adjacent properties or public right-of-way. The barrier is not required along common property lines with undeveloped private properties, or where the hive entrance is more than 25 feet from the nearest facing property line. 6.04.090(C)
• Hives must have access to a fresh on-site water source, refilled regularly. 6.04.090(D)