Spring purchase, good nuc with a mated queen. Right before or just into the honey flow is best. After that you have several options to over winter. We went balls deep catching two swarms and putting them in deeps. Over wintered them in a single and fed the snot out of them for the better part of a year and a half.
You can try to grow a Five frame nuc to a double story and over winter. They do well in our area if you buy a good pine box for the R value.
You could also buy a super strong nuc and place those frames in a deep and grow. If that is the choice you transport them in a cardboard nuc to your box. Either or traditional nucs are the frames and bees you supply the box. If you don't have one some keepers sell with a transport cardboard or for much higher the whole box. I will be offering the cardboard transport or placing in your box.
Package bees are shook bees forced together from several hives. You introduce them to a box with a foreign queen. Most of the time she is sold as a mated queen with attendants. Those bees have to establish themselves with everything. A nuc is a fancy term for small colony. Even a swarm has a better start over a package. Swarms already have worked together and when leaving take a pile of honey with them in the honey gut.
Packages do have a place. I sold a very large shook package to another keeper this spring whose over wintered bees was small and failing. Little sugar water spray to ease the introduction helps. When you can boost numbers it always helps. Everyone in a hive has a specific job. Less of every specific job means the hive struggles.
Honeybee Democracy is an excellent book, btw.
