G3farms,
Was surprised to see this post brought back to life.
The only answer I can give to your first question is this, a queen survived, the starter hive grew, and it was able to survive the winter. Which queen it was, I have no way of knowing. Looking back I do wish I would have at least marked the one queen that had hatched to give a better idea of how things worked out. I work as a truck driver and my work days are unpredictable as times and this was one of those times. I was not able to check back in on the hive until a couple of days later.
The answer to your second question would definitely be "yes, you are correct, it will work". I think I was so amazed at what i saw and so pleased with being able to capture it on video I was just content with that. The reason the tape ended at that point was because I ran out of tape and had no more with me to continue. :'( I have had success a couple of times since with finding a virgin in the hive and separating them from cells just as you have stated.
Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed it.
Arvin