North Carolina Guarantees the Right to Keep Five Beehives

Section 106-645 strips local governments of the power to zone beekeeping out of existence. Subsection (a) voids any county ordinance that prohibits a person or entity from owning or possessing five or fewer hives. Subsection (b) lets a city regulate hives inside its limits, but every ordinance must permit up to five hives on a single parcel; a city may only add placement rules such as ground-level or anchored siting, property-line and hive-to-hive setbacks, and removal of an unmaintained hive to protect public health, safety, and welfare. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services administers the broader Bee and Honey Act, including bee-disease and sale rules.

A county ordinance banning five-or-fewer hives is unenforceable. A city may order removal of an unmaintained hive. Selling bees without the required permit is a Class 3 misdemeanor under § 106-644.