Australian colonies can have two million termites. The queen can lay 2,000 eggs per day and live as long as 50 years. West African colonies can have five million members. In big nests the queen and king may live for 15 years. The queen will lay one egg every 15 seconds.
Termite colonies have a queen, a king, soldiers, and workers.
Worker termites are male and female nymphs and sterile, wingless adults. The queen and king are the only termites with wings. A colony produces many queens and kings each season. They leave, swarm, mate, lose their wings and start a new colony. The queen lays about five eggs which she and the king look after.