During their third week as house bees, workers take short flights for orientation and defecation. Hives painted different colors aid the bees with orientation and reduce the chance of young bees drifting between adjacent colonies. Some of the oldest house bees also serve as guards at the entrance. After approximately 3 weeks as house bees, the workers become foragers, gathering pollen, nectar, water, and propolis for the colony. This period of their lives also averages about 3 weeks.
Most foragers collect nectar and pollen, but nectar is collected in greater quantities than pollen.
Pollen collection tends to be an activity of younger foragers and nectar collection a function of older foragers. Water collectors may comprise 10 percent of all foragers, but this figure is much higher during periods of heat stress. Propolis collectors are quite rarely observed. The schedule of worker bee activities is both flexible and reversible, depending more upon physiological age than on chronological age, and is altered according to the needs of the colony. Similar extensions of life expectancy also occur when brood rearing is interrupted at other times.