The queen is the mother of the colony and the most important member of the colony. She is about 25mm in length and has a long tapered abdomen. There is normally only one queen in a colony and once mated (in the first three weeks of her life) she stays inside the hive to lay eggs (except where there is swarming). She lays eggs from which queens, workers and drones are born. Her capacity for laying eggs is outstanding, her daily output often exceeds 2000 eggs! She is fed and tended by her court of workers and spends all her time laying eggs, one in each cell. The cell from which she is born is different from the other cells. It is cone-shaped and hangs down on the face of the honeycomb. It is called a Queen Cell. Queens can live for five or six years but they are at their best during the first two or three years of life. If a Queen is removed or lost from the colony workers will notice in less than thirty minutes and become very agitated and will prepare to rear a new queen. The Queen has a non-barbed, curved sting used only to dispose of rival Queens in the colony.