Beekeeping is legal across St. Joseph County and treated as agriculture. Indiana requires no state hive registration, though the DNR offers voluntary registration and inspects for disease. Recklessly disturbing someone's hives is a Class B misdemeanor.
Keeping honey bees is lawful throughout St. Joseph County and treated as agriculture. Indiana does not require beekeepers to register their apiaries; the Department of Natural Resources Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology offers voluntary registration and may inspect any apiary for pests and pathogens under Indiana Code 14-24-8. State law also protects colonies: Indiana Code 14-24-11-4 makes it a Class B misdemeanor to recklessly disturb or molest another person's hive without permission. Municipal zoning in South Bend and Mishawaka may add hive-placement setbacks from lot lines; the rural south and west impose little.
Recklessly disturbing or molesting another beekeeper's hive without permission is a Class B misdemeanor under Indiana Code 14-24-11-4. A city can separately enforce zoning setbacks on hive placement.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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