Douglas County's Zoning Resolution Section 24 (Animals) sets no beekeeping-specific standard, so honey bees are generally allowed as an accessory use on residential and rural land. Colorado regulates apiary registration and disease at the state level; check your HOA, which often restricts hives.
Section 24 of the Douglas County Zoning Resolution addresses household pets, poultry, small livestock, hoofed livestock, and exotic animals but does not list bees or set hive counts or setbacks. In practice hobby beekeeping is treated as a permitted accessory use in zone districts allowing residential and agricultural use, subject to nuisance rules. Apiaries in Colorado are governed at the state level by the Department of Agriculture (bee inspection and disease-control law). Because much of the county's population lives in HOA-governed communities such as Highlands Ranch, the binding limits on hives usually come from HOA covenants rather than county code — confirm both before installing hives.
No county apiary penalty exists; hives that create a documented nuisance can be abated under general zoning/nuisance enforcement, and HOA covenants may bar or limit hives independently.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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See how Douglas County's beekeeping rules stack up against other locations.
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