With the misunderstanding regarding the conditions of getting a frame with eggs from Jason resolved (God bless him for the generous soul he is), I visited the hive today to see if there was enough of a population left to make it worth the try, and if not to see what they might have been doing in there so far.
Imagine my intense pleasure to see that the box has returned to it's former glory. I did not uncover the clear tube to see if the traffic between wall and box has returned. Given the swarm of activity to and from the box I can hardly believe that it is not back in full swing. Apparently it just took them a while to find and take advantage of the opportunity.
Is it also possible that the Queen had paid the box a visit?
At the recent SIBA meeting, I learned to my surprise that workers who become queenless will develop ovaries and start laying eggs (the eggs have not been fertilized but can still develop into drones!!) If this was occurring in the box during the period they were isolated, could it be that the queen was provoked into putting things back in order and reasserting herself? I don't know.
All I can say is I am thrilled to see that the bees are back. Tim (also with SIBA) has generously offered to suit up and take a peek at what is going on after he sets some new hives on 7/7. At this point I am inclined to leave them alone till then and decide what to do next after we know more about the internal state of the box.
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