I agree tefer, it is strange. I’m not sure why this hive carries drones into winter. Same thing happened last year. This colony is a group of darker bees, of Carniolan stock. This is not a drone layer, there are 10’s of thousands of worker bees in this hive. This hive is a monster.
Some of my other hives have a few drones coming and going, but not to this extent. Keep in mind that my hives are very well insulated and they’re loaded with plenty of stores and lots of bees. Still, it is strange :?