I think for the first year, I’ll keep it to 1 brood box. I want to keep it simple - so far that doesn’t sound likely! lol
so with your first year, really ask, you may need 2 brood boxes just to get thru the next winter
look at these post as well
also anything from Michael_Bush take as gospel. He is a great recourse on here
Ok - I’ll ask. I think YOU are my new mentor. I have seen the video with Michael Bush installing a package to the super. I’ll research more on him.
Well, from your “cold north east” location, you are probably going to need a second or even third brood box. Your bees will need to have enough stores to last through the winter (40-80lb of honey) before they have enough to spare for you. Please don’t think that one box keeps it simple. Depending on where you are, that may just ensure that your bees don’t survive the next winter.
As for when to add the Flow frames, the answer is the same as when to add any new box. You want the existing box to have all frames with fully drawn comb, and the comb 80% full of brood, honey or pollen, plus every frame completely covered with bees. If you add a new box too soon, the bees can’t defend the new space, and you risk the brood getting chilled too. If you are going to use 2 or 3 brood boxes, you use the same concept I just gave you - bursting with bees before adding another. @Anon has posted an excellent set of photos telling what you need to see before you add a box:
I understand that you are excited, but please don’t try to “force” your bees to work the way you want. They need to do it their way, or they won’t do well.
Thank you. That does explain a lot. I certainly don’t want to loose my bees over winter.
Congratulations on starting up a hive. I started mine last year and the information and help from people on this forum helped tremendously. I have four friends at work that I used as mentors but the people on the Forum were there for me at all hours of the day and night.
I agree with @Dee, @Dawn_SD and @Martydallas, starting with a nuc is the way to go for us newbies for all of the reasons Marty pointed out.
Here few more things to think about before spring gets here and your bees arrive. The person I bought my Nuc from said it would be ready at a certain date but the weather was great and the nuc was ready two weeks before the date they quoted. Luckily the spot where my hive was going to be set up was all ready to go or I would have been in a panic.
Picking up a Nuc for the first time was interesting. I was glad that I had a pickup truck with a canopy. The nuc was sealed very good but there were a few loose bees and if that had happened inside of a car it would have distracted me.
Keep your Nuc Box…when my bees swarmed later on in the summer I was able to capture the swarm and started a second hive. And you may want to have a second hive ready in case you need to split your hive or if they swarm.
Practice keeping your smoker lit a few times before your bees arrive.
Figure out what your going to use for an entrance reducer. Many of the standard reducers don’t fit the Flow Hive entrance. There are a lot of good ideas on the forum for making entrance reducers. I had to try to fit the one I made to my hive entrance after I got my bees.
And finally, find a place to set up your chair because your going to be spending lots of time watching your girls do their thing with your favorite beverage in hand. Its addicting!
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Thank you. I’m excited and feeling overwhelmed all of a sudden. I’ll have to rely on the advise I get from everyone. My classes start in January, and have more questions than before. I have my site picked out and am looking into where I can get a local nuc. Good advice about not have bees flying around in the car! lol
One more thing: Order your nuc right now.
yes, stressing over getting your NUC home for a new beekeeper is something else 
here is some of my story
http://forum.honeyflow.com/t/bee-photographs/630/141?u=martydallas
yes, where I am, you should order in 6-8 months in advance of wanting it.
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here is a video of me that day installing my NUC
http://forum.honeyflow.com/t/bee-photographs/630/154?u=martydallas
That was great! I actually feel better now. The image of you in your Prius with your mother and the bees is priceless. I do like the feeder set up you have. what is that?
Yes, I have been researching local sites. I want to have all my ducks (bees) all lined up!
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I have the white plastic one as well as the wood one called Boardman Entrance Feeder M00826 I like this one better for now. Still like the plastic one, it is much liter, use a plastic bottle as well on it.
With my NUC I was given an frame feeder also. I never used it on that NUC. I am using it now in winter here with a swarm my mentor and I placed in a box just before winter. They were able to build some comb out but not enought to full up the box and not enought food to get then thru winter. so I am using it for them. Glad i have it.
Now in winter I am feeding both hives entrance feeders as well and placing candy polin blocks on top of the brood in the box so they don’t have to move a lot to get food.
What do you think of the bucket feeders?
They are my preferred method, on top of the inner cover/crown board, inside the hive. Entrance feeders always carry a risk of encouraging robbing. Pail or bucket feeders do not have such a high risk.
But my understanding of possible feeders that are on top of the hive. Is it similar to the entrance feeder meaning it has little holes in the lid and the bees suck water from the jar through those little holes.
And at times those holes do drip into an on the hive inside? Is that right?
Also I had the concern and was told that possibly he could trip on the Queen and kill her? That seems a bit unlikely but nevertheless that’s one of the reasons I did not do that.
Robbing seems a bit minor to me yes it may cause extra stress to the bees that are in the hive trying to protect it. The other reason I like entrance is I have a better understanding of how quickly they go to the food at a glance without possibly having to open up the lead and look.
I understand and respect everybody situation is different, for those that go to their hive once or twice a week having it on the lid should not be a big deal at all. Mine is beside my house so every day coming home from work and depending on the day every morning before leaving work I will take a look at the hive. Mine is also in a major residential area and I know there are other bees around, but I don’t believe there are as prevalent as like at my mentor’s house where he has quite a few hives.
From my point of view, if I could get a nuc on the cell size I want and the frame size I want and especially if I could get an overwintered local one, I’d buy the nuc. All of that is unlikely. If you get a nuc on a frame size you don’t want or a cell size you don’t want, then you are fighting things all the way… A package is on no frame size and no cell size so you can put them on what you want.