(Editor’s note: Nicole Cook serves as an environmental and agricultural faculty legal specialist at UMES. This information should not be considered legal or financial guidance for readers.)
As winter’s chill keeps us indoors, many are already dreaming of spring’s arrival: gentle winds, blooming gardens, and for prospective beekeepers, purchasing their first nucleus colony!
Maryland’s farming sector depends heavily on honey bees, and many agricultural producers supplement their earnings by maintaining hives for honey and beeswax production, plus crop pollination services.
However, due to these insects’ critical role in agriculture, Maryland has enacted detailed regulations designed to protect bee colony health – rules the state enforces rigorously.
Breaking Maryland’s beekeeping regulations actually constitutes a misdemeanor offense.
Therefore, before purchasing your first colony, ensure you’re familiar with Maryland’s legal requirements for bee ownership.
Maryland’s Department of Agriculture oversees approval for bringing honey bee colonies into the state.
No individual may bring colonies or previously used beekeeping equipment into Maryland without proper inspection documentation from an authorized apiary inspector in the originating state.
Any bees or equipment entering Maryland without required paperwork will face quarantine in an MDA-designated location and may be eliminated at the owner’s cost if not removed within 24 hours of department notification.
All beekeepers must allow MDA access for colony inspections and complete registration within 30 days of acquiring bees, then annually by January 1st thereafter.
Registration and inspection services are provided at no charge, though certificates cannot be transferred between owners.
Registration forms are available at http://mda.maryland.gov/plants-pests/Pages/apiary_inspection.aspx.
MDA inspections verify that honey processing facilities maintain cleanliness and sanitation standards, proper ventilation, adequate lighting with protective coverings over food areas to prevent contamination.
Inspectors also confirm accessible water supplies for processing areas and ensure honey houses serve exclusively for extraction, processing, packaging, or handling honey during harvest periods. All exterior openings in extraction and packaging areas must have intact screening.
Each colony requires moveable frames that can be extracted without damaging other combs, and honey extraction is limited to capped combs free of bee brood, larvae, wax moths, or small hive beetles.
When transporting bee colonies through Maryland, all hives must remain screened or covered continuously, and vehicle engines must stay running except during fuel stops to prevent bee agitation, unless bees are stored in refrigerated compartments maintained at 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
Vehicles carrying bees cannot travel more than one mile from interstate highways.
Beyond state requirements, beekeepers should research local county and municipal restrictions.
Frederick County’s zoning rules, for instance, mandate apiaries be positioned at least 10 feet from property boundaries, include on-site water sources to prevent bees from seeking water elsewhere, and be situated behind solid barriers at least six feet high that run parallel to property lines and extend 10 feet past the apiary in both directions.
Beekeepers employing workers must submit either a Certificate of Compliance with State Workmen’s Compensation Laws or provide MDA with workers’ compensation policy or binder numbers as proof of coverage.
Additional details about Maryland’s beekeeping laws, including information about how beekeeping qualifies as agricultural use for reduced property tax assessments under Maryland’s Tax-Property Article, can be found at https://www.agrisk.umd.edu by searching “bee.”
