My bee's are quickly outgrowing their shared hive so I've been working on the other half of the barrel.
I've made some slight modifications to the stand. The barrel now floats on the stand and can be removed. I'll be building a short stand for loading one of these into the back of my truck.
I'm also having some crazy SHB issues. Lots of nooks and crannies for them to hide in. I've decided to add a #8 hardware cloth screen bottom to the new 1/2 barrel. The bee's are doing there best to herd the beetles as it is now, Hopefully with the screen they can just push them out the screen bottom and out of the hive. I'm also having a tray custom made from galvanized sheet metal to use as a lime tray.
I can close the bottom with a sliding board if I need to.
I've moved both colonies into this new barrel and I am trying to quickly add these modifications to the original barrel so I can split them up before they swarm on me. (I may already be too late to prevent it).
Edit: Photobucket didn't like me moving my photos... man I wish the links weren't album dependent.