I believe nine frames is great for a hobbiest like myself.  I space my
nine frame leaving a bit of extra space to one side.  The space acts
much as Aaron described the follower board.  The first frame slides over
a bit and is removed without rolling.  The first frame is left out of
the hive and is replaced in the ninth place.  The next inspection
reverses it back to the first position.  I suspect if you only check
your hives a couple times per season the space would get filled up.
 With weekly (about) inspections it remains clear with little or no burr
removal.

Tom Elliott
Chugiak, AK

>Well, it's not so much the thickness of the frames as it it the burr comb
>the bees build between the frames at the top bars.  That is the place where
>bees tend to get rolled, as the comb passes the burr as Dave Green
>described.  That is why one needs to cut the burr comb from bot sides of the
>first frame being removed, plus the facing sides of the adjacent frames.
>Once the first frame is removed, the remaining frames can be slid into the
>vacant space before the are taken out for examination.
>
>Running 9 frames will buy you room to move initially, but eventually the
>bees will build fatter combs, propolize the space between the end bars, and
>built more burr comb.  Then you're back to the original problem; frames that
>are too tight with no room to move.  The real trick here is to push your
>frames tightly back together after examining the hive.  If you leave gaps,
>the bees will fill it in.
>

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