Hialeah, FL Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)
Key Facts
- Local control
- Preempted to the state (F.S. § 586.10(1))
- Hive placement
- Ag-classified land or land integral to operation
- City's only role
- Zoning land as agricultural (Sec. 10-3(b))
- Registration
- Dept. issues inspection certificates (§ 586.10(3)(k))
- City fine risk
- Up to $500/day if not on ag land
Summary
Florida law strips Hialeah of any power to regulate backyard beekeeping. F.S. § 586.10(1) preempts 'the authority to regulate, inspect, and permit managed honeybee colonies and to adopt rules on the placement and location of registered inspected managed honeybee colonies' to the state, superseding any city or county ordinance. Hialeah's own Sec. 10-3(b) only exempts bees on agriculturally zoned land from its livestock ban.
(1) The authority to regulate, inspect, and permit managed honeybee colonies and to adopt rules on the placement and location of registered inspected managed honeybee colonies is preempted to the state through the department and supersedes any related ordinance adopted by a county, municipality, or political subdivision thereof. (2) The department shall: (a) Administer and enforce this chapter. (b) Adopt rules necessary to enforce this chapter, rules relating to standard grades for honey and other honeybee products, and, after consultation with local governments and other affected stakeholders, rules to administer this section.
Full Breakdown
Chapter 586 of the Florida Statutes, 'Honey Certification and Honeybees,' gives the state's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services exclusive control over how backyard and commercial hives are sited and inspected. Sec. ' That means Hialeah cannot pass its own hive-setback, registration or permitting ordinance for beekeeping, no matter how many complaints a neighborhood generates. Under Sec. 10(2), the department must 'administer and enforce this chapter' and adopt the actual placement and inspection rules, after consulting with local governments, rather than leaving that job to individual cities.
A separate section, Sec. 055, narrows where a hive can legally sit: 'An apiary may be located on land classified as agricultural under s. ' Locally, the only beekeeping-adjacent text in the Hialeah Code is Sec. 10-3(b), which exempts 'owning or harboring livestock or bees/apiaries on property lawfully zoned for agricultural use,' excluding mobile home parks, from the city's general livestock ban in Sec. 10-2(a). That provision addresses Hialeah's own land-use classification, not hive placement or beekeeping practice, so it does not conflict with the state preemption: the city controls whether land is zoned agricultural, and the state controls everything about how a hive on qualifying land is registered, inspected and sited once that zoning exists.
A beekeeper in Hialeah therefore needs both a property carrying an agricultural zoning designation and, separately, a certificate of registration and inspection issued by the department under Sec. 10(3)(k).
Violations & Fines
There is no beekeeping-specific city fine because Hialeah cannot regulate the practice, but the department can 'revoke or suspend a beekeeper's...certificate of inspection or use of a certificate or permit' for violations of Chapter 586, per Sec. 586.10(3)(l). If a hive sits on land that is not agriculturally zoned and not exempt under Sec. 10-3(b), the property still faces Hialeah's general livestock civil infraction under Sec. 1-11, up to $500.00 per day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Hialeah pass its own beekeeping ordinance?
Where can I legally keep bees near Hialeah?
Does the state require beekeepers to register?
What if I keep bees on non-agricultural land in Hialeah?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Hialeah
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