Walla Walla County, WA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

WWCC § 17.26.020's 'Bees' entry sets the baseline rule: colonies are 'limited to one colony for each 2,000 square feet of open space' and only 'when permitted by conditional use permit,' meaning a Community Development conditional use permit is required before any hive goes in, not just a building permit. From June 1 through September 1 each year, a seasonal 'honey bee control area' applies within specifically described township-and-range sections of the county (centered on commercial alfalfa- and clover-seed ground). Inside that window and area, no more than one honey bee colony per acre is permitted where the property is cropped in blossoming commercial alfalfa or clover for seed, and no more than one-quarter colony per acre where the blossoming forage is of other types.

Apiary-wide, no more than 50 colonies are permitted in any one apiary, each apiary must be set back from property lines a distance of four feet per colony, and apiaries must be separated from each other by 400 feet while also sitting within 400 feet of the blossoms they are meant to forage on. WWCC § 17.26.025 adds a sanitation duty (enclosures must not become a breeding place for insects or a nuisance) and requires that 'bee hives shall be registered as per Chapter 15.60 RCW,' the state's own apiary-registration statute, which the county adopts by reference rather than restates.

Because § 17.26.020 sits in Title 17 (Zoning), enforcement runs through WWCC Chapter 14.13: a notice of violation and order, then a $250-per-day civil penalty for uncorrected noncompliance, or a gross misdemeanor for willful refusal to correct.