annette, if he got the queen, or they were queenless, most of the bees that were left have probably moved on. i have made follow-up calls on a couple of my distant cutouts to make sure all was well. on those, i knew i had gotten the queen. by the next day, the left over bees had pretty much gone. i suspect it was a bit like the shake-out i did the other day. the bees just moved on. there are always stragglers :-)
i wonder if he didn't take time because he figured he was probably not getting a good hive out of it? anyway....they all are different and they all are a learning experience, until you get to the JP level!