In the past I have removed a frame or two from the hive with the intention
of replacing it in the immediate future and then forgot to do it for a few
days. Of course the bees drew out a comb to their own liking. What I've
usually noticed in these circumstances was that new natural cells generally
looked slightly larger than the cells bees drew out on standard foundation.
This year I was provided with a couple packages of 4.9 Caucasian bees. The
bees had already been retrograded. (Sorry, if that’s the wrong word. I
haven’t kept up with the vocabulary.) One of the hives has been trying to
raise new queens on it’s own. A frame and nurse bees with one of the queen
cells was placed in a nuc along with another frame of pollen and honey. The
queen hatched, mated and has been laying. Only two frames were placed into
the nuc. The other day I checked it. Bees had begun to make another comb
attached to the nuc’s cover. The cells I noticed appeared to be the same
size as the original 4.9 foundation.
FWIW
Dick