Reading the tray debris in October — what do wax flakes, chewed cappings and pollen crumbs tell me about the cluster?

Vermont, second year. After the mess I made of not noticing a dying colony last month I've put clean trays under all three remaining hives, partly for mite counts and partly because someone on here mentioned that debris tells you where the cluster is. What's on my trays after five days. Hive A: two clear bands of fine pale wax flakes about four frames wide, a few chewed cappings, some pollen crumbs, and three mites. Hive B: one narrow band, two frames wide, almost no cappings, one mite. Hive C: debris spread thinly everywhere, no clear bands, a lot of fine crumbs and eleven mites. My attempt at interpretation. The bands show where the bees are working above, so A has a wide cluster over four frames and B is a narrower colony. The scattered pattern in C worries me — either the cluster is moving around or the debris is from something other than bees. Am I reading this right? What does a spread-out pattern usually mean this time of year? And what should I be looking for that I haven't mentioned — I assume mouse droppings and moth frass are the obvious ones.