Tampa, FL Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

10, adopted in 2012 and refined since, establishes that the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) has primary jurisdiction over honey bee colonies, and local governments are preempted from adopting ordinances that prohibit or unreasonably restrict beekeeping on property not zoned exclusively residential. Even in residential zones, cities must allow beekeeping if conducted in compliance with state best management practices. All beekeepers in Florida, including hobbyists with a single hive, are required to register their colonies with FDACS under Chapter 586 and pay a small annual registration fee.

FDACS inspectors may inspect hives for diseases such as American foulbrood and for Africanized bee traits. Florida best management practices require that colonies be kept in movable-frame hives (Langstroth style), provided with adequate water to discourage swarming to pools and neighbors spigots, and sited with flyway barriers such as fencing or vegetation at least 6 feet tall within 10 feet of the hive entrance when colonies are near property lines. Hive density is often limited to 2 to 6 colonies per quarter-acre depending on lot size and surrounding land use.

Tampa cannot ban backyard beekeeping but can address aggressive or neglected hives as public nuisances, and state inspectors can order requeening or destruction of Africanized colonies. Beekeepers should notify neighbors as a courtesy and post contact information. Honey sold directly from the home in unadulterated form under Florida cottage food law is permitted up to annual revenue limits without a food establishment license.