Boston, MA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

27(C) requires anyone keeping honey bees to register with the Inspectional Services Department (ISD) for a $25 fee. Division (D) caps hives at five per lot or roof, limits each hive to six feet in height and 24 cubic feet, and bars roof placement unless ISD has approved the roof for access and occupancy. Where no wall or fence separates properties, hives must sit back five feet from the property line; hives cannot go in a front yard or a side yard abutting a street in residential or commercial districts, and none may sit within ten feet of a public sidewalk or six feet of a roof edge.

Any ground- or roof-level hive within 20 feet of a neighboring building's doors or windows must either face its opening away from them or be shielded by a six-foot flyway barrier of lattice, fence or dense hedge positioned within three feet of the hive entrance and extending two feet on each side. 13 governing access to roof areas of residential buildings, which controls if the two provisions conflict. ISD's Commissioner may grant waivers at sole discretion on petition. The Section was adopted by Ord. 2024 c. 1 § 1.