Commerce City, CO Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Article V of the Commerce City Animal Code covers beekeeping alongside backyard chickens. Sec. 4-5001(c) requires a backyard beekeeping permit from the Community Development Department wherever the zoning district does not otherwise allow bees, issued after an application, a fee, and a site diagram showing hive placement, entrance orientation, and any required flyway barrier. Sec. 4-5004 then sets the operating rules: unless the zoning district allows more, a property may hold a maximum of two hives, each no taller than five feet or larger than twenty cubic feet, with entrances facing away from or parallel to the nearest property line and away from doors and windows.

No Africanized or aggressive-behavior bees are allowed, and any hive must be requeened after a swarming or aggressive incident. Hives must sit back at least twenty feet from the nearest developed property line unless the keeper installs a flyway barrier of six to eight feet in height that runs seven feet past the hive opening; that barrier does not need a separate building permit. Bees must have a constant water source so they do not congregate at neighbors' pools or birdbaths, and hives may never be kept in the front yard. A permit lapses once chickens or bees have not been kept for twelve consecutive months.