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Consider starting with Post #1, search #beekeepingforeveryone, or scroll to the bottom of this post for the complete list.
Package Bees - Understanding What You'll Get
Package bees are by far the easiest and most often way new beekeepers obtain bees. However, very few new beekeepers understand exactly what they are getting. The general perception of a new beekeeper is that they are getting a colony of bees that are all related. When in reality they are getting a box of bees most likely from multiple hives that are unrelated. The process of making packages consist of shaking bees from many hives into a big screened holding box. Then they pour the bees out of the holding box into a smaller shipping box that is no a scale. When the shipping box reached the desired weight (usually 3lbs) it is swapped for an empty one and the process continues until all the needed packages are filled.
What about the Queen?
Once the packages are filled with worker bees, a newly mated queen in a cage is added to the package along with a can of sugar syrup and they are ready to ship. Another thing most people fail to realize is no matter what race of honeybees you order, most likely you will receive 3lbs of Italian bees and a queen of the different race you ordered. Why Italians? Because Italians are brood rearing machines regardless of the environmental conditions that would cause other races to cut back on brood rearing. So not only is the queen unrelated to the unrelated worker bees, but she might not even be the same race. Since the queen is mated, hopefully with the same race, her offspring will be her race and over time the hive will become the race of honeybee you ordered. This can take a month or more to accomplish.
Why you should not expect honey the first year
When you start with a package of bees, you have no brood. If we go back to the post on worker bees, we know that it takes 21 days from egg laying to bee hatching. Since most new beekeepers don't have drawn comb for their new bees, the bees need to draw comb before the queen can even start laying. Unlike bees that are swarming and have prepared their wax glands to start flowing by gorging themselves on honey before leaving, package bees had no intentions of leaving their hive and have no prepared their wax glands.
Best case is the queen can start laying minimal amount of eggs within a day or two, but you are looking close to a month before bees start hatching. During this month, the colony is actually in decline as worker die off. Since a lot of package bee producers keep their queen confined to the bottom brood chamber with a queen excluder and shake packages from the upper boxes chances are you will be getting older bees. If you remember back to the worker bee post, the younger bees tend to the brood which will be in the bottom brood chamber with the queen.
Since your colony will be using all the resources they can gather to build comb and raise brood, and the fact they will be declining in population for the first month followed by a month to rebuild you should not expect any surplus honey.
Consider a nuc if possible
If you have the option of purchasing a local nuc, I would highly advise considering it. Not only are you getting locally acclimatized bees that have the synergy of being related, but you are also getting a colony that has brood and is growing from day one.
Beekeeping for Everyone! Series
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Check out all the posts in the Beekeeping for Everyone! series
#1 - Introduction
#2 - The Importance of Pollinators
#3 - Honeybee Castes
#4 - Honeybee Queen - part 1
#5 - Honeybee Queen - part 2
#6 - Honeybee Worker
#7 - Honeybee Drone
#8 - There is Nothing Natural About Beekeeping!
#9 - Honeybee Nucs - Buyer Beware
Keep On Keeping!
@bushkill