I think it was Allen who noted that a "split" of 6 frames of brood and bees
would produce a surplus of honey the first year.
 
Let me add that this is what I have also found, here in central NY.  Often
as a swarm control measure, I have pulled 3 frames of (mostly capped) brood
with the adhering bees out of strong colonies, also shaking bees from 2-3
more combs.  This is usually in mid to late May.
 
Anyhoo, I quickly discovered that if I put these three frames and bees in a
hive body, and added three more combs with bees from the next "pruned"
hive, then these large "nucs" would invariably produce 2-4 FULL medium
supers by the end of the season. [Queens were supplied from introduction
cages or raised from q cells present on the 6 combs.]
 
The queens are restricted to the single brood chamber by an excluder, and
these strong units invariably put up a great crop. The only thing is, they
must be provided with winter stores once the supers come off.  The easiest
thing to do is to leave one good heavy super on, removing the excluder.
 
So I agree, a six frame split (using combined resources from two
full-strength colonies in spring) is very reliable, and can be quite
profitable in the same year.
 
We are fortunate in the NE USA as there is usually a fair-excellent fall
nectar flow.  Without it, the foregoing probably wouldn't work well.