Beekeeping and Local Honey Rules — Brevard County, Florida

On unincorporated land from Mims to Micco outside agricultural zoning, the Brevard County Code still lists bees as a barred animal, but Florida law hands regulation of registered, inspected managed honeybee colonies to the state agriculture department and supersedes related county ordinances.

The county text is Sec. 62-2108 of the Brevard County Code, titled Farm animals and fowl. It makes it unlawful to keep, harbor, breed or maintain bees, roosters, peacocks, horses, cattle, goats, pigs or other livestock on any premises not zoned for agricultural use or otherwise excepted (Brevard County Code, Sec. 62-2108). The same section allows up to four chickens per half acre on single-family lots of at least half an acre, but it carves out no similar allowance for hives. Its history line lists Ord. No. 2012-36, adopted December 6, 2012, as the latest amendment.

The state text, which reaches every lot from Titusville to Micco, is section 586.10(1), Florida Statutes. It provides that the authority to regulate, inspect and permit managed honeybee colonies, and to adopt rules on where registered inspected colonies are placed, is preempted to the state through the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and supersedes any related ordinance adopted by a county or municipality (section 586.10, Florida Statutes). Section 586.055, added by chapter 2012-83, adds that an apiary may be located on land classified as agricultural or on land that is integral to a beekeeping operation (section 586.055).

For a lot in Micco, Barefoot Bay or another unincorporated part of Brevard, the practical rulebook for a registered hive is therefore the state one: FDACS registration and, on non-agricultural land, the FDACS Beekeeper Compliance Agreement described below. For land inside Palm Bay, Melbourne, Malabar and other municipalities, the same state preemption language names municipalities as well as counties.

Every beekeeper with honeybee colonies in Florida, including hobbyists in Palm Bay, Melbourne and Micco, must register with FDACS, pass an inspection and pay an annual fee set by colony count, from $10 for one to five colonies.

For a Melbourne or Cocoa apiary, registration starts with a login on the FDACS online portal or a call to the local apiary inspector; an inspector then visits to complete the process, and certificates are renewed each year on the anniversary date, with fees invoiced 30 days before expiration (FDACS Beekeeper Registration). Every hive must be permanently marked with the beekeeper's registration number in the upper left-hand corner, in letters at least half an inch high, and all hives must have movable frames.

The statute caps what a beekeeper in Brevard or anywhere else in Florida can be charged, whether the hives sit in Palm Bay, Viera or Titusville. Neither the registration fee nor the annual renewal fee may exceed $100, a renewal postmarked after the anniversary date carries a $10 late filing fee, and the department must send renewal notice at least 30 days ahead (section 586.045). Violating chapter 586 is a first-degree misdemeanor for a first offense, and FDACS may impose a fine of up to $5,000 for a violation of the law or its rules after notice and hearing; questions go to the Division of Plant Industry at 1-888-397-1517 (FDACS Beekeeper Registration).

On non-agricultural lots in Palm Bay, Viera or Barefoot Bay, the FDACS Beekeeper Compliance Agreement allows 3 colonies on a quarter acre or less, rising in steps to 100 colonies on ten acres or more.

The agreement, form FDACS-08492 dated 12/17, binds beekeepers keeping bees on land classified as non-agricultural under section 193.461 and is recommended but not required on agricultural land (FDACS-08492 Beekeeper Compliance Agreement). Each tier below ten acres may be doubled for up to 60 days as a swarm control measure. A quarter-acre lot in Palm Bay or Barefoot Bay would fall in the first tier.

Placement rules come with the numbers for a Melbourne or Micco backyard apiary. A colony within 15 feet of a property line needs a flyway barrier at least 6 feet high, the area holding the hives must be fenced, or have an equivalent barrier, with a gated controlled entrance, a water source must be available to the bees at all times, and apiaries may not sit within 150 feet of tethered or confined animals or public places such as schools, parks and parking lots. Colonies must be inspected by the beekeeper at least monthly, and public lands, including schools and parks, are off limits except by special permit letter from the Director of the Division of Plant Industry with the written consent of the property owner.

One clause matters in deed-restricted Brevard subdivisions from Viera to Barefoot Bay. Item 9 of the agreement states that deed restrictions and covenants that prohibit or restrict managed honeybee colonies take precedence over chapter 586 and the department's rules, so a homeowners association covenant can bar hives even where the state would allow them.

On Brevard land that the Property Appraiser classifies as agricultural, an apiary is expressly allowed by section 586.055, and the FDACS-08492 density limits become recommendations rather than requirements.

Bees count as farming for property tax purposes. Section 193.461 lists bee alongside horticulture, livestock and poultry in its definition of agricultural purposes, and it requires the owner to file a return on or before March 1 of each year for land to be classified as agricultural (section 193.461). In Brevard that classification is decided by the Property Appraiser, and the statute defines bona fide agricultural purposes as good faith commercial agricultural use of the land.

Moving bees is regulated on any land. FDACS requires a certificate of inspection on each sale or movement of honeybees within the state unless the hives are branded with the registration number, on every out-of-state movement, and on shipments entering Florida; the certificate fee is $25 plus mileage (FDACS Beekeeper Registration). A Grant-Valkaria or Micco beekeeper selling nucleus colonies to a Melbourne buyer works under that rule.

For a buyer of local honey in Palm Bay, Melbourne or Cocoa, state rules mean the hives behind a jar should carry an FDACS registration number, and a home-based seller working under the cottage food law must label each jar with the cottage food statement.

Florida's cottage food law exempts home producers in Palm Bay, Melbourne and the rest of the county from food permits when annual gross sales of cottage food products stay at or under $250,000 (section 500.80). Products must be prepackaged with a label naming the operation and its address, the product, ingredients, net weight or volume and allergen information, plus the statement, in at least 10-point type, Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida's food safety regulations. Cottage food sellers may sell online or by mail and deliver in person, but not at wholesale.

The same section preempts local control: no county or city, including Brevard County or Palm Bay, may prohibit a cottage food operation or regulate the preparation, storage or sale of its products, although the seller must meet home-based business conditions. Honey houses fall under the FDACS Division of Food Safety, which regulates honey production, honey house standards and honey labeling (FDACS Apiary Inspection FAQ). A Melbourne shopper comparing jars can therefore read the label to tell a cottage producer from a permitted honey house.

Brevard beekeepers can turn to UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County at 3695 Lake Drive in Cocoa, the club Brevard Backyard Beekeepers listed by the UF/IFAS Honey Bee Lab, and their regional FDACS apiary inspector.

The extension office in Cocoa answers at (321) 633-1702, keeps hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and lists a farmers market on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (UF/IFAS Extension Brevard County). The UF/IFAS Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory names Brevard Backyard Beekeepers as the association for Brevard County in its statewide list (UF/IFAS beekeeper associations list).

For regulatory questions FDACS points beekeepers in Palm Bay, Titusville and the rest of the county to the local apiary inspector, and it directs anyone needing bees removed from a building to a bee removal specialist list (FDACS Apiary Inspection FAQ). The Beekeeper Compliance Agreement itself must be executed by a local apiary inspector. Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website and the Brevard County Code.