Dept of Agriculture

Tennessee law requires all apiaries to be registered with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. You can register online or email plant.certification@tn.gov or call (615) 837-5137 for assistance. The registration page is at https://www.tn.gov/agriculture/animals/apiary/apiary-registration.html. On updates: apiaries are required to be re-registered every 3 years, and when you register, you receive a unique registration number that can be used to brand hives and equipment. That number is per beekeeper, not per hive, so adding hives to an existing registered apiary doesn't require a new registration — just keep your apiary info current. Benefits include email notification of disease outbreaks, and by law all honey bee colonies in Tennessee are required to be registered.