I bought some Mann Lake 8 frame medium hive bodies to house a cutout I will be doing in a few weeks. I've assembled the boxes and frames last night and I've noticed. I can easily fit 8 frames in that 8 frame box and there is still a little room in there. Not enough for 10 frames but the frames aren't jammed in there tight.
I've noticed reading elsewhere that Mann Lake 8 frame bodies run wide but is this normal? Anyone see a problem with me actually running 9 frames in them or should I just cluster the 8 frames in the center of the box and leave a gap at the sides?
I don't know the size of the mann lake hive body so my question would be... Do you have enough room to remove a frame without rolling bees? If you do then you can run 9 in it. If it is questionable on that then I would err on having enough room and not risk rolling a bunch of bees or even the queen.
ML 8 frame mediums are 12 1/2" wide, (inside measurement) and 14" wide (outside measurement). I run 9 frames in all the brood boxes and 8 frame in the honey supers. It's a little tight but manageable. Just pry up one outside frame and it's easy from there.