Southfield, MI Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

Chapter 113's general animal-keeping standards in § 9.76(1) apply to bees along with every other kept animal or fowl: no animal may be housed in a front yard or within ten feet of a side or rear lot line, and the owner must fence or otherwise construct the area to keep the animal within twenty feet of the side and rear property lines. Bees can't be kept if they become noisy, obnoxious, destructive or offensive to the neighborhood, and the hive can't be housed inside a residence or other principal structure, only in an accessory building or enclosure.

Section 9.76(3) then layers beekeeping-specific standards on top. A beekeeper must provide a water supply near the hive so the bees don't forage for water, or concentrate, on neighboring properties, addressing the most common source of beekeeping complaints. The ordinance also relaxes one general standard for bees specifically: the running-at-large prohibition that otherwise bars any animal from roaming the neighborhood does not apply to bees unless there's a pattern of excessive concentration at an off-site location creating a nuisance or hazard, recognizing that bees necessarily forage beyond the property line as part of normal behavior. Southfield doesn't require a separate beekeeping permit or hive-count cap in this section; a keeper who satisfies the general § 9.76(1) standards and the water-supply rule is in compliance, though a hive that does become a documented neighborhood nuisance can still be cited.