Spring Poly Hive Check Up

Checking on the bees in my poly hive.
00:00 - A vole in the hive.
I was deceived by a brief hit of warm weather and decided it was okay to remove my mouse guards. I was wrong. In Newfoundland, it seems best to leave hive wrap and insulation on until it's warm enough to do a full hive inspection and there is plenty for the bees to forage on.
This is a poly hive, no insulation or hive wrap required, but I should have left the mouse guard on until the weather was warm enough for the bees to be active every day --- which even now, isn't the case.
I would have left this hive alone until warmer weather arrived, but I was concerned about mice inside the hive, so I had to get it done regardless of the weather (it wasn't too warm).
All the original sound from this video has been removed and replaced with local bird sounds.
01:00 - Opening the top box.
Not as many bees as I would like to see. There was a serious moisture issue in the bottom of the hive, and it seems to have disrupted the queen's laying. I've seen this in other hives where mold was growing all over the bottom box.
01:51 - Prying up stuck frames.
I use the J-hook portion of my hive tool to pry up the frames which are not only stuck in the boxes like super glue from being there all winter, the bottom bars in this box are stuck with wax to the top bars in the lower box too. Therefore, I wasn't able to lift the top box without some frames from the lower box coming up with it. What a pain.
Normally, in wooden hives, I would twist the top box to break off any connecting wax to the lower box, but the poly hive supers are designed to connect together like Lego, so they can't be twisted.
02:17 - Pulling a frame of scattered brood.
The queen should have been higher in the hive at this time of year, laying several frames of brood by this point. That's not what I found, but I won't discuss why because, to be honest, I'm not interested in the lectures that would come from armchair beekeepers who think they know everything. Suffice it to say, there was an issue in the hive that had nothing to do with the quality of the queen and I fixed it. But don't bother asking because not going to talk about it publicly.
02:26 - Digging deeper.
The brood nest isn't nearly as large as it should be, but the queen is healthy and the bees are extremely docile. I suspect the colony will do well once natural resources start coming in. At the moment, hardly anything is in bloom and it's much too cold for the bees to forage most days.
Welcome to the east of Newfoundland.
02:42 - Discovering slugs.
This poly hive did not have a top entrance over the winter, just a bottom entranced with a mouse guard and a partially opened screened bottom board. 3-4 frames in the bottom box were full of mold and SLUGS, slugs which I suspect were so warm and cozy all winter inside the hive that they were able to reproduce.
I pulled the bottom board and sprayed away as much of the slugs and gunk that I could with a hose before replacing it and rebuilding the hive (with 3 medium supers instead of 4).
Next year, I plan to over-winter in only 3 mediums, not 4, and I might keep the screened bottom open for better ventilation and release of excess moisture. I'll have to do something to keep the slugs out too. Maybe sprinkle rock salt on the screened bottom board?
In any case, there was too much moisture and too many slugs in the bottom box for my liking. The bees seem to avoid the wet and slimy side of the hive. I've seen exactly the same behaviour in wooden hives too.
03:17 - Moldy frames and slugs.
That's too much mold and too many slugs. I don't want to see this again next year. That's why I think I'll have to provide more bottom ventilation next year.
03:33 - Sorting dirty frames.
After cleaning the gunk and slugs from the bottom box, I put dirty frames back and arranged them from best to worst. Some of the frames (older than 10 years) might be old enough to cycle out of my hives.
It's easy to see which frames have mold -- they're covered white with mold.
I don't think this video is a good representation of how poly hives perform on the east coast of Newfoundland. The issues with the colony, other than the slugs in the bottom, were not the fault of the poly hive. That's all I'm going to say.
The top two hive medium boxes were heavy with honey and the bees, even though in a small chimney shaped cluster, was healthy and good tempered.
I expect the colony will rebound and do well once the weather warms up.
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[@diegovd7215]

Hi, even an hour before it starts raining, I see slugs nearning the entrance of my hives. They feed on dead bees. They know in advance that there will be dead bees dropped out by the cleaning bees. I have never seen slugs inside my hives (most are styrofoam).
About mice: I leave on purpose a small empty styrofoam box (Apidea, mating nuc) on the ground, free for any mice that would seek shelter. I give them a dry and warm place to build a nest and they do not bother the hives, that my experience. I have checked in winter and there is usually 2 to 4 mice living in there. They build the nest with leaves and other materials. My entrances are 3D printed with PLA, in winter I keep a very small entrance, height is like only 7 mm. No mice ever got in.
About condensation water: I tilt my hives forward 1.5 to 2.5 degrees to help water to evacuate, and help the removal of dead bees.
Good luck and cheers.