Middleton, WI Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

28(22) of the City of Middleton Municipal Code, titled Residential Apiary, defines the use as the assembly of one or more colonies of honey bees and folds it into the Zoning Ordinance's list of Accessory Land Uses, meaning it is allowed only as an addition to a residential use, not as a stand-alone commercial apiary. The species restriction is absolute: subsection (a) bars keeping any bees other than honey bees, ruling out other stinging insects marketed as pollinators. Middleton caps colony count at six hives per parcel, and each individual hive box is capped at twenty cubic feet in volume, a size restriction meant to keep hives to a manageable backyard scale rather than commercial pallet-stacked operations.

Placement is tightly controlled: hives must sit at least three feet from any property line held in different ownership, at least ten feet from a public right-of-way, and at least twenty-five feet from a neighboring principal building. Keepers must also provide a constant water supply so bees are not drawn to neighboring pools, birdbaths, or pet dishes. The most distinctive requirement is the flyway barrier: any hive within twenty-five feet of a shared property line must be shielded by a barrier at least six feet tall built of wall, fence, or dense vegetation, positioned to force bees to fly up and over it rather than straight across a neighbor's yard at head height.

40. Because the apiary is an accessory use, hive placement is further bound by whatever accessory-structure setbacks apply to the zoning district where the parcel sits.