We still don't know whether the queen made it back to the hive or if the hive is raising a new one. One of these days Karl needs to open the hive up and see if he can spot recently laid eggs.
Karl's beekeeping friend who was with him the day the queen escaped from the mason jar suggested that he buy a new queen and install her in the top section of the hive. The way the hive is set up now there is space for brood on the bottom, then a queen excluder, and then a super full of honey and then a couple of near empty supers. Best case scenario, she thought that a queen in the top part of the hive would have space to lay eggs and still be sufficiently separated from the old queen. If it turns out that the old queen never did make it back to the hive, the hive would at least have a queen that they didn't have to raise themselves. Karl did find a beekeeper who had a queen to sell if he decides to go that route, but we've been so busy lately that we haven't gone that route yet.
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