Hive Mat vs. Inner Cover

[Dustymunky]

Anyone have experience using hive mats? I'm adding a couple of hives this year and inner covers kind of seem unnecessary. I have some scrap linoleum I was thinking about cutting to size for hive mats.

[Nordak]

If you're going to remove the inner cover, why not just go migratory cover? I like an inner cover in case I need to feed syrup with a jar over the vent hole.

[moebees]

No experience but Kirk Webster uses them and they are commonly used in Europe although the ones I have seen are usually like plastic seed sacks and not as stiff as linoleum. Australians use a hive mat though that looks kind of like a fiber board or something. The Lyson 6 frame nucs I bought come with a propolis trap as inner cover. Haven't used them yet tho so cannot tell you how that is going to work.

[Dustymunky]

I pretty much need a waterproof cover for my hives year around here in Portland. I like to use a jar feeder with inner cover too but these hives won't be visited enough to mess with that setup. I guess I'll try one with hive mat and see how it goes


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[Dustymunky]

I tried out hive mats on 2 of my hives. Used scrap linoleum cut to same size as the box it covered. There was basically no top ventilation with this setup. Hives bearded whenever it got into the 80's. I'm planning on just using inner covers on my permanent hives and using hive mats in a pinch. I think cutting off the corners of the mat will help with upper ventalition.