Bee hotel care guide: a full year, month by month
A well-built bee hotel needs almost no upkeep, but the small number of things you do matter enormously, and most damage comes from good intentions applied at the wrong time of year. This is a full calendar of what to do — and, more often, what to deliberately leave alone.
At a glance: the year in four phases
- Late winter (Feb–early Mar): check, clear debris, hang new hotels.
- Spring (Mar–May): mason bees nest; watch, do not touch.
- Summer (Jun–Aug): leafcutters and other species nest; keep entrances clear.
- Autumn/winter (Sep–Jan): nothing visible, nothing to do — the brood needs cold.
February to early March: the only real prep window
This is the one stretch of the year with genuine tasks. Check the fixing is still rigid — a hotel that sways in wind puts females off entirely — and brush cobwebs or debris away from open tunnel entrances with a dry, soft brush, never anything wet. If you are putting up a new hotel, this is the window to do it: red mason bees can emerge as early as mid-March in a mild year, and a hotel hung after that has already missed the first wave for the season. Full positioning advice is in our where to hang a bee hotel guide.
March to April: mason bee emergence
Males appear first, patrolling entrances without nesting; females follow within a week or two and begin provisioning tunnels. The only useful task here is making sure conditions around the hotel support them: bare damp soil for mud within easy flying range, and early flowers such as pulmonaria, fruit blossom, dandelion and comfrey nearby. This is also the point to stop all garden spraying, including lawn treatments and rose sprays, which drift further than most people expect.
May to August: leafcutters and the height of the season
Tunnels used by mason bees earlier in spring finish capping with mud, while leafcutter bees (Megachile species) begin nesting in the same or adjacent tunnels, sealing theirs with neatly cut green leaf discs instead. The task list stays short: keep foliage from growing over the entrances, and otherwise do not move the hotel, open a sealed tunnel, or attempt any cleaning. Every capped tunnel is an active nest at this point.
September to January: the quiet season
Nothing changes visibly, and that is exactly correct. Inside each sealed cell a larva has pupated and is developing into next year's adult, and it needs sustained outdoor cold to keep its seasonal timing correct. Leave the hotel exactly where it is, outdoors, through winter. Moving it into a heated shed, garage or greenhouse — a common well-meaning mistake — risks triggering bees to emerge in midwinter into a garden with no flowers, which is usually fatal.
Care calendar at a glance
| Period | What's happening | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Feb–early Mar | Dormant, pre-emergence | Check fixing, clear debris, hang new hotels |
| Mar–Apr | Mason bee emergence and nesting | Provide mud and early flowers; stop spraying |
| May–Aug | Leafcutters and other species nesting | Keep entrances clear; leave sealed tunnels untouched |
| Sep–Jan | Brood developing, dormant outside | Nothing — leave outdoors, uncovered, unheated |
Mould and damp: prevention beats cleaning
Mould at tunnel entrances is a moisture problem, not a hygiene one, and scrubbing it away mid-season does more harm than good since it disturbs active nests. The near-universal cause is rain reaching the nesting face — usually a roof without enough overhang, or a north-facing position that never dries out. The fix is to move the hotel the following February, not to intervene while it is occupied. If mould or dead brood keep recurring, our troubleshooting guide covers each specific cause in more depth.
Long-term care of cedar and copper
Leave both materials alone entirely. Untreated Western red cedar weathers naturally to a silver-grey and stays rot-resistant without oiling, staining or painting — all of which would seal the timber and put off inspecting females with solvent smells. A copper roof develops a cosmetic brown-then-green patina over time that offers a little extra protection and needs no treatment or replacement.
When to consider a second hotel rather than replacing the first
With a hotel built from proper timber and a sealed rear panel, expect several seasons of reliable use rather than one. If occupancy drops noticeably after a few years, the better move is usually to add a second hotel in a different part of the garden rather than disturb the first — spreading nests reduces the disease and parasite pressure that can build up around one long-used site, and gives you a wider spread of tunnel sizes across the garden overall.
Questions people ask next
Should I clean out old tunnels every year?
Is it OK to bring the hotel indoors for winter?
What should I do if I see mould on the tunnel entrances?
Do I need to do anything when the first bees emerge in spring?
How do I know if the hotel needs replacing rather than just tunnels refreshing?
Can I add a second bee hotel instead of replacing the first?
Start the year with the right hotel
A house that sheds rain and seals tunnels at the back removes most of the maintenance this guide describes before it starts.
About Clayton Dawson
Cabinetmaker and solitary-bee keeper, and the maker of the Wild Bee Hotel. Clayton has kept red mason and leafcutter bees in his own garden for years, and every guide on this site is written and checked against what he sees in the tunnels each season rather than copied from a catalogue. Read the full story.
First published 14 March 2025 · last reviewed 2 August 2026.
What we based this on: RHS, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Wildlife Trusts.
