Mann Lake 8 frame mediums - too big?

[rniles]

I'm a newbie, so please bear with me.

I purchased Mann Lakes's 8 frame medium supers with frames. I placed the frames in and there's a large amount of space left over if I have all the frame touching each other. ...enough so, I can stick a 9th frame in there.

With only 8 frames in there, isn't all that extra space a violation of "bee space"? How do you place the 8 frames in there, touching and centered or touching and all to one side? Anyone ever place a 9th frame in there?

Thanks,

Robert

[ByGonzah]

All pushed together, centered in the box. That will leave some space on either side.

[odfrank]

Some folks advise the use of follower boards. You have room for two 1/4" boards that will give you double insulation from cold through the side walls and additional clustering space. I use them in my 19 7/8" square jumbo hives.

[EastSideBuzz]

I would create a ply follower board same size as the frames and put it in. Problem solved.



"Anybody who doesn't cut his speed at the sight of a police car is probably parked."

[westernbeekeeper]

A friend of mine that I was mentoring had the same problem. Bought all new frames and 8-frames boxes to start out with, and could just fit 9 frames (fairly tightly) in the 8-frame boxes. We just centered them and then let the bees have at it. All went well, but the frames at each side were drawn out quite a bit farther than the rest.

[Vance G]

If you put the 9 frames in, the bees seem to draw tightly spaced frames better than spaced ones. After they are drawn, you can keep running 9 or space the eight drawn ones equally. I shave my frames to 1 1/4" so I can get 11 in my ten frame boxes. I find it improves the quality of the drawn comb and In the brood nest, the bees seem to be able to maximise the amount of brood they can cover and keep warm.

[Rader Sidetrack]

Anyone every place a 9th frame in there?

Some beekeepers do deliberately place an extra frame in the brood boxes, sometimes also shaving some material from the standard frame to get them to fit better. Here some info on that concept:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesframewidth.htm

[Charlie B]

Mann Lake 8 frame box interiors are 12 1/2" wide and will take 9 frames easily. That's what I do for the brood nest and then use 8 frames in the honey supers spaced evenly. Works really well for me.