Merced County, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

64 (Animal Confinement Facilities) folds beekeeping into the county's animal-raising permit scheme rather than leaving it as an accessory use anyone can start. 030(B) states that the raising or keeping of animals shall comply with the chapter's requirements 'regardless of whether a land use permit is required,' and lists 'Commercial apiaries (bees)' fourth among eight activities singled out as separate land uses subject to a use permit, alongside animal hospitals, kennels, pet stores, and veterinary clinics. Subsection C routes each activity through Table 4-3 (Zones and Allowed Animal Raising Activities), which uses 'A' for Allowed and a dash for Not Permitted.

114 is required even in the county's largest agricultural zone, and a run of dashes covers the A-1-40, A-2, R-R, R-1, R-1500, M-H, R-2, R-3, and R-4 columns that follow, closing the door on hobby hives in every rural-residential, single-family, and multi-family zone the table lists. That puts apiaries in the same restrictive bracket as kennels and animal confinement facilities rather than the low-key hobby status beekeeping carries in many cities. Anyone keeping bees anywhere in the unincorporated county outside an A-1 parcel is operating without the required permit, and anyone inside A-1 still needs the Administrative Permit before the hives go in.

The Division of Environmental Health also retains authority under subsections E and F to impose odor, insect, and species-specific standards on any approved animal-raising activity.