As you've heard, it is a good idea to start them in a nuc...but be careful, because if you feed them, they will expand rather quickly. Be prepared in a couple of weeks to move them into larger quarters. What I do with packages is keep feeding them heavily until they get built up into the configuration I want them for their permanent quarters. If they're strong bees, before the season ends I get to pull the feeder, and add extracting supers, and even get some surplus honey off them the first season. Not sure how it would work in your neck of the woods though. But stay ahead of them, with both space and feed, and you'll have a gang-buster colony for next year!
Good luck!
Steven