Kyle, TX Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Kyle regulates backyard beekeeping under § 5-65 of the animal control chapter. Section 5-65(a) bars keeping any bee colony that threatens human or animal health or interferes with normal use and enjoyment of public or private property. Apiary maintenance rules in subsection (b) require a Langstroth-type hive with removable frames kept in sound, usable condition, a water source so bees do not congregate at water used by people, birds, or pets, and sealed storage or disposal of comb and other hive material. Hive placement is fixed by subsection (c): no hive may sit within ten feet of the property line of the tract, and any colony kept within 25 feet of the property line must have a flyway barrier maintained parallel to that line to force bees to fly up and over passersby.

Subsection (d) requires an aggressive colony's queen to be replaced immediately with gentle, nonswarming stock, and allows one nucleus colony per two authorized colonies for up to 30 days. Colony density under subsection (e) scales with tract size: two colonies on a quarter acre or smaller, four on a quarter-to-half acre, six on a half-to-one acre, and eight on one acre or more, with no cap at all if every hive sits at least 200 feet from the property line or backs onto 200 feet of undeveloped land.

Subsection (f) requires the owner's name or phone number marked on two hives or posted at the apiary entrance, unless the owner lives on the tract. The animal control division can order relocation, or destruction if relocation is unsafe, of wild or abandoned colonies under subsection (g).