Re: Bkaugust's query on observation hives. I'd suggest you wait until spring.
It is almost impossible to keep one alive through the winter in the north.
We've done it here in South Carolina but it is touch and go whenever it gets
real cold. The bees can't cluster, so they have to have a blanket. If you
heat them very much, they will try to fly out and will die outside.
   Observation hives are fantastic learning tools. Once you set up, you won't
get near as much other work done for a while.
   They require close maintanance, as the colony is not large enough to
maintain itself and requires almost constant feeding. On the other hand, in a
real honeyflow, they will plug up and want to swarm, as there is no surplus
storage space. Except for feeding, our hive here is pretty much allowed to do
as it wills. It has had three brief flows and swarmed three times this
summer, successfully requeening itself each time.    Recently it suffered a
pesticide hit from an unknown source, probably mosquito spraying, and about a
quarter of the bees died. Interestingly almost no evidence was visible at the
entrance. The bees did not clean up the dead, and maggots were beginning to
work, so I added about a half pound of bees at the entrance. Then they began
cleaning up the dead, and had it done in about three days. When they were
hit, they balled the queen for three days, and I didn't think she would
survive. She did, but she didn't act normal for a week, and it took about a
week and a half before she resumed laying.
I have video of this.  So you see what an informational tool an observation
hive can be.
  If you place two frames of brood with a few eggs and no queen, into your
hive, you will get to watch the queen rearing process in action. However,
such a small hive may not raise a very good queen, and it is easy to chill
her and lose her entirely, because of heat loss in such an unnatural shape.
   At best, the hive will dwindle, during the queen rearing process, so you
probably will need to add a half pound of bees, about midway in the project.
Make sure their bellies are full of syrup and add them at the entrance; also
feed the hive heavily at that time; they will be accepted.
   With all these dificulties, you may wish to give them the established
queen from your mother hive, and either let it requeen itself (it should make
a good one), or give it a queen. (Replace the
brood frames you take with good comb and they'll soon have brood again. Leave
the spaces empty and you'll have a mess to clean up.)
   In the north, I had problems with queenlessness and chilled brood, even in
the summer. I'd advise covering them at night, if it is going to be cool, and
add workers, if they become weak.
   When you take your frames of bees and brood to make up the hive, be sure
they come from at least a mile, or better two, from the site, to prevent the
older bees from flying back to the home hive. Of course the frames should be
well covered with adults to begin with, and should have plenty of sealed
brood. Watch them closely: anytime they don't have any capped honey or syrup,
they are only a couple days from starvation, if they can't get out to get
nectar. So increase feeding until you see some capped syrup.
  Have fun and learn a lot!