Modoc County, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Modoc County Code Chapter 6.06 (Bees), adopted by Ordinance No. 363 in 2024, is a full apiary ordinance enforced by the County Agricultural Commissioner (Section 6.06.030). Key location rules: no apiary may be kept closer than 300 feet to a house or building used as a dwelling not owned by the beekeeper, unless an exception applies (flight-dispersing barriers, written neighbor permission, or a commissioner determination) (Section 6.06.070(A)); and no apiary may be closer than 100 feet from the traveled portion of a public road right-of-way without commissioner approval (Section 6.06.070(B)). Registered apiary sites must generally keep a 1.5-mile buffer from another beekeeper's apiary, but landowner apiaries and hobbyist apiaries are exempt from that distance rule (Section 6.06.080(A)). A 'hobbyist beekeeper' apiary is defined as having nine or fewer colonies (Section 6.06.010). Beekeepers placing hives on land they do not own must have landowner permission (Section 6.06.040), and apiaries on premises other than the beekeeper's residence must display an identification sign with name and contact information (Section 6.06.050). Water must be available within set distances (Section 6.06.100), and keeping or breeding Africanized honey bees or 'overly defensive bees' is prohibited (Section 6.06.130). Fees for inspection and registration are set by the Board of Supervisors (Section 6.06.140). Violations are abatable public nuisances punishable under the County's nuisance-abatement chapter (Section 6.06.160).