Oxnard, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Section 5-25(A) of the Oxnard Code of Ordinances states flatly that "no person shall maintain or cause or permit to be maintained any bees in or upon any premises in the city," making beekeeping a default prohibition rather than a permitted-with-conditions activity like it is in many neighboring jurisdictions. The section carves out one exception: bees "necessary for agricultural purposes may be maintained by special use permit," which routes any lawful hive through the city's discretionary land-use permitting process rather than a simple registration or setback rule.

Subsection (B) adds two narrow, non-residential exemptions that do not help a backyard hobbyist: bees in sealed containers merely in transit through the city, and bees kept temporarily within a schoolhouse for study or observation. Because the ordinance sits in Division 2 of Chapter 5 (Domesticated Animals) alongside the swine prohibition in Section 5-26, Oxnard groups bees with livestock the city has decided are simply incompatible with its residential and commercial zones, rather than regulating hive placement, colony counts, or flyway barriers the way hobbyist-friendly cities do.

There is no separate residential zoning allowance layered on top; the citywide ban in Section 5-25 controls regardless of lot size or zone, so a resident cannot rely on having a large yard or an agricultural-adjacent property to keep bees without first obtaining the special use permit.