>> Foragers lack the proteolytic enzymes to digest pollen grains; 

> [In] Winter bees, on the other hand... [in spring]
> the size of hypopharyngeal glands, the protein content 
> within the midgut and the proteolytic activities within 
> the midgut increase

But more than winter can revert older "forager-age bees" back to bee bread
making nurse bees. Google for Zach Huang, Gene Robinson, and "Division of
Labor".  They removed all the bees except known foragers and their queen,
removed all brood, and some of the foragers bees reverted back to nurse
duties, including the making of bee bread, with hypopharyngeal glands
"regenerated" for feeding larvae.  (They also removed all foragers, and saw
accelerated maturation among some bees to restore the 1/3 forager
population. They even confined all the foragers, giving them longer
lifespans and zero losses to misadventure, and saw maturation slow down, as
far fewer bees were needed to replace forager losses. The message here is
that pheromones will quickly balance out a hive's surviving population to
1/3 foragers no matter what losses the hive suffers.)

Now, it may well have been than the larvae raised by the forager-aged
"volunteer nurses" suffered from serious malnutrition due to the use of
formerly atrophied hypopharyngeal glands, but the colonies abused in the
manner described did raise significant numbers of workers, and I think it
should be clear that one can't get from egg to emerged bee without putting
some significant protein into the process.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 
The Mohonk ski report is "Have a seat between the fire and the Christmas
tree, sir - here's a nice whiSKEY".

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Sent from my not-so smartphone.
My typo rate may vary
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