When you make more hives, it is better make when hives are largest.
Prevent swarming and therefore to split is good method but purpose is not make more hives.
When honey season is over, you may devide your big hive into 2 or 3 if they have time to raise wintering bees.
In summer you bye a new queen. You take a frame or emerging bees, and so it starts. When hive is settled after 3 days, you put queen into nuc.
Later you add emerging bees and soon it is one box hive.
To get emerging bees, you should have big hives and it gathers yield normally.