El Dorado County, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

44 (Apiaries and Beekeeping) treats beekeeping as agriculture and layers on specific placement and safety duties. 140 requires every apiary near a school yard or place where people congregate to sit behind a barrier, natural or built, positioned so bees are forced to fly at a high altitude over people below. 150 bars placing a hive on land you don't own or possess without the landowner's written permission first. 160 requires an ID sign on the apiary's entrance side naming the owner, address and phone number, or the owner's active bee-brand serial number, whenever the apiary sits away from the keeper's own residence.

170 sets a two-mile buffer between commercial locations (50+ hives), but a residential property owner who personally manages and owns the bees on their own land is expressly exempt from that spacing rule. 190 requires an adequate water supply in the apiary's immediate vicinity. 200 requires a three-foot firebreak cleared to mineral soil around any apiary in forest land where fire danger exists, plus a shovel and fire extinguisher kept on hand whenever the beekeeper is present. A commercial operator is defined at 50 or more hives or colonies; anything below that is a noncommercial, residential-scale apiary under this chapter.