how does the Apiary at lakeview manor work?

when I build it it has a bee and honeycomb in it, but after i remove them they don't respawn...

Do I have to keep the Bee(s) in it for it to spawn more Honeycomb?

I assunmed it worked in the usual "chest respawn" way, but it does nmot seem to...

I have had mine respawn. But it takes a very long time. A few weeks at least, it seems.

Yeah. You have to be away from home for a while for the bees to respawn since you keep resetting the cell.

It might be on the 30-day respawn timer.

it takes a long while!

I haven't really timed it or anything, but each I time I check I only take the honeycomb and, if I have extra bees I pop them in. In my mind I assume that as long as there are bees in there the honeycomb will respawn. It probably doesn't work like that at all, but it seems like it does for me