> By "eating," do you mean digesting?  Foragers lack the proteolytic enzymes to digest pollen grains; they are rapidly shunted through their midguts to the hind gut.

Foraging is the end point for summer bees. Winter bees, on the other hand:

> After surviving the winter, bees have varied functions. They have to perform such chores as cleaning, building and nursing, and have to forage. As they start these activities, the size of hypopharyngeal glands, the protein content within the midgut and the proteolytic activities within the midgut increase. Whereas the protein content reaches a level comparable to those of young nurse bees in summer, the increase of proteolytic activity is much less pronounced. Perhaps larger enzymatic levels are not necessary because they can feed from another protein source - the beebread; this protein is perhaps more easily available than from freshly gathered pollen.

Moritz, B., & Crailsheim, K. (1987). Physiology of protein digestion in the midgut of the honeybee (Apis mellifera L.). Journal of Insect Physiology, 33(12), 923-931.

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