>>I wonder  if an unlimited broodnest would increase your yields...
>Generally it is frowned upon in the UK to extract from combs that have contained brood.

The idea of an unlimited broodnest is not to extract from the broodnest. Once the brood rearing gets under way in the spring AND a honey dome is set-up in the upper broodnest, the supers are put on.  The honey dome keeps the queen laying in the spacious broodnest while surplus nectar is moved to the space in the supers.

It worked for me well this year.  The trick was to keep the broodnest from getting nectar-bound during quick spurts in nectar gathering.  I think a lot of nectar was getting 'dumped' in the broodnest during the day and was moved up to the supers during the night.  Provided there were enough supers and enough bees.

You may want to set up one hive like this as an experiment.  I'd most interested in your results.

Waldemar

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