McHenry County, IL Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

050(C), grouped with amateur radio towers and chicken coops in the accessory-structure chapter. Anyone keeping bees on property that is not agriculture-exempt must first register with the Illinois Department of Agriculture under the Illinois Bees and Apiaries Act, 510 ILCS 201/. Every colony has to be kept in a removable-frame hive maintained in sound, usable condition, not a fixed box or barrel. The distance trigger for a flyway barrier is 25 feet: if any hive sits within 25 feet of a property line, measured from the nearest point on the hive, the beekeeper must build and maintain a barrier at least 6 feet tall, made of dense vegetation, fencing, a solid wall, or a mix of the three.

That barrier has to run parallel to the lot line and extend 10 feet past the colony in each direction, forcing bees to gain 6 feet of altitude before crossing onto a neighbor's land. Beekeepers also owe their bees a constant water source year-round, and if a colony turns aggressive, stinging or attempting to sting without provocation, or starts swarming excessively, the code requires the keeper to re-queen it promptly rather than wait it out. Hive placement still has to respect the ordinary accessory-structure setbacks unless the keeper screens the property line or the neighboring lot is vacant. There is no numeric cap on colony count in this section; the limits are about placement, hive condition, and the flyway barrier, not quantity.