Tehama County, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Tehama County is an agricultural county where managed pollinators support olives, orchards, and field crops, and beekeeping is broadly permitted. On the local side, the County Zoning Code (Title 17) folds apiaries into its agricultural definitions: the 'agriculture' definition includes apiaries, and the 'light agriculture' definition (Section 17.04.340) lists 'nurseries, greenhouses, orchards, aviaries, apiaries' among the permitted uses - so keeping bees is an allowed agricultural use in the county's agricultural districts. The County's published animal materials do not impose a separate countywide numeric hive cap or a beekeeping-specific setback distinct from zoning, so for most beekeepers the binding requirements come from state law and parcel zoning. California's Apiary Protection Act, codified in the Food and Agricultural Code, Division 13 (sections 29000 et seq.), requires every person who owns or possesses bees in California to register their apiary annually with the Agricultural Commissioner in the county where the bees are kept; there is no colony-count exemption, so even a single backyard hive must be registered, and registration runs through the statewide BeeWhere system administered by CDFA. In Tehama County, beekeepers register with the Tehama County Agricultural Commissioner. The practical checklist is therefore: (1) confirm the parcel's zoning allows the apiary at the intended location, and (2) register the apiary with the County Agricultural Commissioner under state law. Hives that create a documented nuisance or hazard can still be abated under the County's nuisance and animal-keeping rules.