Hello
Today i was looking at my girls and i notice some thing moving in the grass and what did i see two drones crawling on the ground from hive one. Ok there has not been any drones in my hives since august when all three hives kicked them all out but now they seem to be raising some more and the queen is doing well she just won't slow down laying and all that they are bringing in i think they are feeding young ones but i am going to go in and see what is going on.
Tom
The feral stock I keep, will keep a few drones through the winter. I bet you just missed seeing those before and they just got thrown out. They also may have drifted from somewhere else and the hive threw them out.
It has been my experience that you can find a handful of drones in almost any hive anytime of the year. Even after the fall kill off, when hundreds are kicked out of the hive by workers, new drones can be found emerging from the brood frames.