Hillsborough County, FL Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Section 6.11.13.B of the Land Development Code, In Residential Districts, opens with a blanket rule: no animal other than a household animal, as defined elsewhere in the Code, may be kept in any residential zoning district. Subsection 1 then lists three narrow exceptions, and honey bees are the first. Under B.1.a, hives are lawful in a residential district only in accordance with the requirements of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry, Bureau of Plant and Apiary Inspection, the state agency that licenses and inspects apiaries statewide. The county does not layer its own hive-count or species limits on top of FDACS's program the way it does for chickens, pigs, rabbits and other Farm Animals elsewhere in § 6.11.13. The one local requirement that survives is siting: unless otherwise regulated by FDACS, hive structures shall comply with the setback requirements of this Code for principal or accessory structures, as applicable, meaning a hive box is treated like a shed or other accessory structure for yard-setback purposes rather than being given its own bee-specific buffer distance.

The same section shows how differently the county treats other residential exceptions: exotic animals may be kept for personal enjoyment only with the appropriate state license or permit, and backyard chickens are separately regulated under LDC § 6.11.129. Outside residential districts, § 6.11.13.A.3.e goes further and exempts apiaries in Agricultural Districts from the Code's Animal Unit calculations entirely, deferring completely to FDACS regulation of farm-zoned hives.