This is an interesting observation--since queens avoid laying unfertilized
eggs in worker cells.  So it makes me wonder whether what you are observing
is the rearing of diploid drones.  Polaczek (2000, citation below) found
that colonies would indeed rear diploid drones to maturity in autumn,
rather than consuming the larvae as they do earlier in the season.

A new, simple method for rearing diploid drones in the honeybee (Apis
mellifera L.)
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/dee5/d38ff1ccfa7968dc41f3b5f9e6cd9078bb05.pdf


--
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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