Greetings all,
 
I've been out of touch for a month or so, starting a new job.  Finally got a chance to get back up
to Philadelphia and check the hives (with the warm weather we had last week/weekend.)  Yes, I DID
notice drones, also noticed them a few times in December in some of the hives which have since
expired.  The otehr thing I noticed was that of five hives total which have expired, three contained
samll clusters of bees including drones but no queen.  I assumed that the queens in these hives had
become unviable or simply died, and that absent new bees, the clusters simply shrank through winter
attrition to the point of being unviable - at which point the survivors froze.  In all cases these
were young queens, going on their nuptial flights in late summer, and apparently laying reasonably
well in the fall...  When I get a chance to check the rest of my hives (only 10 more) I will check
for additional drones.
 
One more point.  I have seen NO mites in any hives (living or dead).  I used liquid applications of
peppermint oil per the instructions from Dr. Amrine.