Apiary Program

Montana typically ranks in the top 10 states for honey production in the United States. The department registers all apiary sites in the state. Distribution Map. Apiaries must be registered by April 1 of each year.

For producers, some good information on honeybee diseases, pathogens and colony collapse disorder can be found at the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium website. Guidelines for protecting honeybees from pesticide exposure can be found here.

The Department of Agriculture in partnership with the Montana State Library-Natural Resources Information Systems has developed a website for the public to identify apiary sites throughout the state. This site will also enable the user to create a map showing a 3 mile radius circle around an apiary site. Use these instructions to navigate to navigate the NRIS site.

(If you use Internet Explorer as your web browser, you may have noticed the swarm of bees chasing your cursor. If you find this annoying, you can stop it by clicking here.)

There are four types of apiary registrations:

General (Commercial): An apiary placed by permission on someone's property and contains more than 5 hives. All general apiaries must be 3 miles from the next general site of another registered beekeeper. This is to prevent the spread of diseases and pests from apiary to apiary and to limit and prevent interference with proper feeding of the honeybees.

Pollination: An apiary established for the pollination of commercial seed, fruit, or other commercial crop dependent on bee pollination. There is no distance limit and these registrations are for a specific time period determined by the department and must be applied for each year.

Landowner: An apiary that is registered to the owner of the land the apiary site is established on. There is no distance limit or limit on the total number of hives that can be registered.

Hobbyist: An apiary placed by permission on someone's property and limited to not more than 5 hives. There is no distance limit between apiaries required on this type of registration.

Apiary site registration form.

The Montana Department of Agriculture also inspects apiaries as provided in the Montana Apiculture Act and Administrative Rules. The department inspects migratory beekeepers having a compliance agreement, and all other beekeepers upon request. Inspections ensure that apiaries meet the threshold of 3 percent or less of American foulbrood.

Laws and Rules:

Montana Code Annotated
Administrative Rules of Montana

The Montana State Beekeeper Association is active in the Montana apiary industry. The group promotes beekeeping to schools, 4-H, FFA, and other organizations throughout the state. The association is also very active in national programs such as the Honey Queen and Princess, Honey Board, American Beekeeping Association.

Registration contact:		Inspection contact:
	Patty Denke Lynn Jones Phone: (406) 444-3730 E-mail: agr@mt.gov		Andy Gray Patricia Denke Helena Office Phone: (406) 444-3730 E-mail: agr@mt.gov

Bee Inspectors:

District A:
	Dan Poff Missoula Field Office (406) 329-1345	Chris Herron Kalispell Field Office (406) 837-6040	Sean Mulla Arlee Field Office (406) 726-3100

District B:		District C:		District D:
	Patty Denke Helena Office 406-444-3730		Patty Denke Velda Baltrusch Great Falls Field Office 406-761-0926		Robyn Cassel Glasgow Field Office 406-228-8012

District E:
	Bob Bales Billings Field Office 406-652-3615	Lori Vance Forsyth Field Office 406-748-3139

Certificate of Health/Compliance Agreement contact:

Fee Requirements

$11 per registered site
Issuance of a Certificate of Health - $75

Montana State Beekeepers Association President:

Rehmbees@3rivers.net

Honey Queen or Honey Princess Information:

Back to BeeKeepers page.