I half thought to post another thread...but we'll all here anyway!
So - on the advantage of starting now - I agree, experience experience experience. The joy of it, the learning curve, etc.
Some have mentioned the type of nuc and I agree with that too. Did the breeder you know just throw a new queen in with bees and brood from another colony? Or has she been in there laying in the frames for sometime so the bees are mostly hers? Of course, a nuc is a sort of forced reverse swarm...the bees wouldn't do it this way. The mother and half the bees would leave and let the daughter hatch out and continue on. We do the opposite - we take a daughter and some bees out and try to make that establish. And it works. I like it more than a package (but hey! It's my first year!!) So, moral of all this? If you can get your hands on some nucs where the queen has been mated and in there for a bit - a few weeks to a month at least - then you know the bees know her and they're raising brood together. Plus, at the point, her first eggs would be near hatching pupae and you'll get a much needed boost in population.
SUGAR WATER!! I am so not above learning from the pros. Thinner syrup isn't what some chalk it up to be, huh? I was really curious so I opened my hives. They have 2-3 frames each of drawn comb full of the syrup. But they have NOT build up more comb for my queens to lay in. Queens are laying in the combs on the brood nest frames, though. That tells me that thicker syrup might just be the way to go. On the other hand, no robbing going on right now and they've dried the syrup enough that is does not run if you hold the frame sideways even for a long period of time. So, they're drying it out and getting the evaporative cooling benefits I was hoping for.
I'll try some 5:3, see what I see. I'll be looking for them building combs for brood AND actually capping the sugar syrup - the tinner stuff has not been capped yet which obviously means it's taking a while to cure. If they're capping the thicker syrup faster -- well, you get the idea.
And add another nearby water source for them. They use the drip line drippers to the orchard they are in, the dog and horse water buckets, etc. But I'll place one nearby to see if they take the water in themselves when given thicker syrup.