Outside hive advice

The great thing about the net is that people far away can take a peek at what I've been doing and then pass on their experience. I was lucky enough to have The Captain, master of all things bee related with more than 30 years' beekeeping experience, have a look at my drone problem (thank you for taking the time and for your advice!) and what he writes is (paraphrased) this:

Drones would not try to mate with a queen inside the hive. 
In instances of high stress the workers will kick the males out of the hive because of limited resources. So the males were stuck in the gaps of the queen excluder because they were trying to escape the stingers of the workers. When a bee stings another bee the barbs do not usually force a break in the abdomen, so the stinger will not usually remain stuck in the stung bee, as it happens with skin, so you would not see a trace in the drones.

The workers, I guess, would undoubtedly be stressed, losing a queen this late in the season (not to mention the upheaval of having the hive fall over and then having it righted again when they had got used to the fallen state), so the explanation makes sense and fits how we found the drones. However, the hive has enough stores for the drones not to be a drain on resources - yet (but perhaps the bees are already preparing for winter). Also, if they are rearing a new queen surely they would need drones to mate with her?
The next inspection will hopefully throw more light on the matter.