Do bees prefer their space?

[kedgel]

I have all my hives lined up on a steel exterior door on cinder blocks, so they are fairly close together.  Other than possibly some robbing and drifting, does it make a difference if the hives are in close proximinity?  I've seen other beeyards where the hives are as close as fingers on your hand and yet others have them spread all over the yard.  I think a benefit of them being close is I can do the old "beehive shuffle" to fool field bees from strong hives into moving into weaker ones by switching them around.  Also, I don't have to weed-whack as big an area.   :-D  Any other pros or cons?

[Michael Bush]

Mine are all touching...