Yolo County Beekeeping Regulations

Registration Required. Defined as animal keeeping and allowed where beekeeping has not been deemed a nuisance.

Davis sets no beekeeping standards. Apiaries fall within the definition of agriculture, so where agriculture is permitted governs.

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

Note: Davis has no beekeeping chapter and sets no hive count, setback or permit. The only place bees appear in the code is inside the definition of agriculture, which lists apiaries alongside farming, viticulture and animal husbandry. That means beekeeping is treated as an agricultural use, and the question becomes where your zoning district permits agriculture rather than what rules apply to hives. Check your zone with the city, and register with the Yolo County Agricultural Commissioner as state law requires.

• "Agriculture" means the use of land for agricultural purposes, including farming, dairying, pasturage, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture, apiaries, animal and poultry husbandry and the necessary accessory uses for storing produce, excluding stockyards and the commercial feeding of garbage or offal to swine or other animals. 40.01.010

No hive limit in the AG and RE zones and two per parcel elsewhere, five feet from property lines, with requeening every two years.

Hive limit: No limit in the AG and RE zones. Two hives per parcel in other zones, or more with a Minor Use Permit.

Note: West Sacramento is one of the more relaxed codes in the region. If your land is zoned AG or RE there is no cap on hive numbers at all; everywhere else the limit is two per parcel, and if you want more the city will consider a Minor Use Permit rather than simply refusing. Keep hives five feet off every property line, point the entrances away, and either screen them behind a six-foot barrier or raise them eight feet off the ground. The management rules are the ones now common across California: keep space in the hive to prevent swarming, requeen at least every two years, and maintain a water source so your bees are not drinking from the neighbours’ pool.

• There is no limit on the number of hives in the AG and RE zones. Bees B.1.a
• A maximum of two hives per parcel, unless otherwise approved with a Minor Use Permit. Bees B.1.b
• Hives must be at least five feet from all property lines, with entrances facing away from or parallel to the nearest property lines, and must either be screened so bees fly over a six-foot barrier, which may be vegetative, before leaving the property, or be placed at least eight feet above the adjacent ground level. Bees B.2
• Hives must be continually managed to provide adequate living space to prevent swarming, requeened at least once every two years, supplied with water at all times to discourage bees visiting swimming pools and hose bibs on adjacent property, and their maintenance materials stored in a sealed container or a bee-proof enclosure. Bees B.3
• Bees or hives are a public nuisance, subject to the enforcement chapter, where colonies show defensive behaviour or otherwise fail to comply. Bees B.4

No local beekeeping rule found in the municipal code. State registration with the county agricultural commissioner still applies.

Note: Searched against the live code in 2026 with no result, so this card no longer reads as unknown. Three caveats are worth carrying, each learned from a real California code this year. A code can regulate bees without naming them, by folding beekeeping into a defined use class such as "agriculture" or "animal husbandry" and then regulating that class in a zoning table. Vocabulary can hide a rule outright, "bee culture" being the most obscure term found so far. And obligations can sit outside the animals and zoning titles entirely, including apiary provisions in wildland-urban interface fire codes. Check Yolo County’s own card as well as this one, since county and city rules differ and the county’s may be the one that binds you. California still requires apiary registration with the county agricultural commissioner.

Two hives on lots under 10,000 square feet and four above, in rear yards only, with registration through the Planning Director and the county.

Hive limit: Two beehives per lot under 10,000 sq ft, four per lot above 10,000 sq ft.

Note: Woodland updated its beekeeping rules in 2025 and they are among the friendliest in the state, opening with a statement that urban beekeeping supports the city’s own sustainability goals. Two hives on a lot under 10,000 square feet, four above that, all in the rear yard. For the flight path you have a choice: either put the hive behind a six-foot solid fence or hedge running along the property line with the entrance pointing away, or simply keep it 25 feet back from the neighbour’s line. There are two registrations rather than one, and both come before you start: plans to the Planning Director showing you meet the standards, and registration with the Yolo County Agricultural Commissioner.

• The purpose is to allow beekeeping in a manner respectful of the safety of persons near the apiary. 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 sustainability goals stated in the General Plan. 17.84.110(A)
• Every person on whose property bees are kept must adhere to good management practices and maintain bees in a condition that will reasonably prevent swarming and aggressive behaviour, and must provide adequate water so bees do not seek it in neighbouring swimming pools, birdbaths, ponds or other community bodies of water. 17.84.110(B)(1)-(2)
• A maximum of two beehives per lot on a parcel of less than 10,000 square feet, or four on a parcel over 10,000 square feet. Beehives are restricted to rear yards. 17.84.110(B)(3)-(5)
• To ensure the flight path is high enough, either the hive entrance must be directed away from the neighbouring property and sit behind a solid fence or hedge six feet high running parallel to the property line, or the hive must be at least 25 feet from the neighbouring property line. 17.84.110(B)(6)
• Beekeeping registration is required before an apiary is established. The applicant must submit plans demonstrating compliance for the Planning Director’s review, and must register the apiary with the County of Yolo Agricultural Commissioner. 17.84.110(C)