EN
Virgin queens were introduced into mating nuclei containing workers of different ages. The study verified whether workers younger than 8 days, comprising the younger group, are more suitable for mating nuclei than workers older than 10 days, comprising the older group. In both groups, 7 (35%) queens were lost during mating flights. The time from introduction of queens into mating nuclei to the start of egg laying in mating nuclei with younger and older workers was 13.69 and 13.73 days, respectively. Two queens in mating nuclei with older workers did not start egg laying before the 20th day when the experiment was terminated. No influence of age of workers in mating nuclei on the performance of honeybee queens was found.