I am getting this question a lot lately and it is really up to the individual. I started with one hive and if I did it over again I would have started with two. The sad thing is we paid as much for our one hive as I am charging for two. I was taken to the cleaners on that first hive.
Our first hive was supposed to be a full working hive already established. We expected honey that first year since it was suppose to be an established hive. It turned out to be a split and we received the split without the queen. I checked it after about 10 days like the beekeeper told me to. It looked healthy with lots of bees, but I didn't know what I was looking for. I had nothing to compare it to, so as I started to see a decrease in larva I was getting worried. I didn't know what an egg looked like and that is because we never had any eggs. I called the beekeeper that sold it to me and he told me to give it ten more days that the queen was probably a virgin queen and was mating and hadn't started to lay eggs. I checked it again ten days later. I didn't see any change other than now I had no larva and most of the brood had emerged. I called him and he told me he would come over the next week. 7 days later he came over and told me he didn't think I had a queen. We are now 5 weeks into this and no queen. I went and bought a queen and introduced her. Finally 6 weeks after purchasing the hive I had a laying queen. The population in the hive had dwindle and it was very small. I was frustrated to say the least.
I learned that if I had a second hive I could have compared the two and seen right off that something was wrong. I could have taken eggs from one hive and given it to the other to make a queen. I could have taken brood from the other hive and given it to the weak hive to boost its population. There were a number of things I could have done, but the biggest for me would have been having something to compare it too so that I could have identified a problem sooner.
I would start with at least two hives. It doesn't take a lot of extra time to care for one more hive. In my opinion once you get to about five hives it might be a little much to start with. You want to be able to enjoy it and not be overwhelmed your first year. I do know people who have started with five and it worked out okay, but the individual had quite a bit of time to work the bees. Here is a webinar that I thought was really good talking about having multiple hives called "2 1/2 hives by Larry Connor". This website has other good webinars too.
If you are just getting started learn from my mistakes and be a little cautious buying a completely established hive. We were late in the year so I went this route thinking I could trust this beekeeper. He sold it to us for $600. We decided to do it thinking we should get honey the first year from it. He suggested that I do two hives as well but then I would have been into it $1,200. Starting with a package or a nuc lets the beekeeper develop his knowledge at the same time the hive is building. Another problem with an established hive is you inherit the problems of the former beekeeper. I could never get that hive to build up to split or get honey. It ended up absconding on me. Anyway, if you choose to start with an established hive, don't pay as much as I did and make sure you trust the beekeeper if you are a beginner. You have to take their word on a lot of things.
Beekeeping is a great hobby and if you get started right, it makes it a whole lot more fun. We need more beekeepers and more people passionate about bees.
Happy Beekeeping.
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