Randy said, "In addition, when I've done gut squashes, those winter bees' guts are
packed full of pollen."

What month are you talking about?  Surely not Dec when you have no pollen coming in and the bees are clustered and can not get to pollen stored in the hive.  Or perhaps it is Dec and your observation is they carry a gut full of pollen all winter no matter how cold?  In which case it would seem they are too cold to digest the pollen.

Dick

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