> Next I saw what I thought at first was some more burr comb with bees on
> it but it turned out to be a golf ball size cluster of bees. I was
> probing them with my finger trying to see if they were on more burr
> comb when I realized it might be a 'ball'. They were _tightly_ packed, and
> after some careful prodding with my finger the queen ran out! I watched as
> she moved along the frame and the other workers reaction to her. The bees
> in the 'ball' continued where they were and the queen soon had a number
> of new workers crawling on her again (not as bad as before).
It does sound like balling. The beginner bee books I have read say do not
disturb newly packaged bees for a week to 10 days (depending on the book) else
the bees may reject the queen and ball her. I guess the 4 days isn't quite
enough.
I don't know about the bees playing "see how many bees can fit into a queen
cage" but a guess is it may also have been an attempt at "balling the queen"
and the bees were attracted by the odor of the queen in the cage, where she
recently spent so much time.
-Mike