Locating 2 hives next to one another = hive raiding?

[SweetBuzz]

I just inherited two hives. They're currently located across my yard from one another at the advice of the previous owner who thought at one point a hive was being raided by the other hive.

One hive is very active while the other is not. In fact, the 2nd hive is VERY quite. I was surprised to open it up and find that it is full of bees. However, I couldn't locate any brood (too early in the season?) which makes me think I need to get these guys a new queen. Yesterday & today the slow hive has appeared to be VERY active but I'm starting to suspect that the bees from the hive are coming in to grab some free honey. I can't be sure of this because I can't tell the bees from each hive apart but I do know that I don't see a lot of bees coming back loaded with pollen at this hive. I just see a whole lot of chaos out front.

My question is, how close can I put these hives to one another without worrying about one hive overtaking the other?

[jadell]

I would reduce the entrance as small as possible. Then add a frame of eggs from the strong hive. Gives them the resources to start a queen. If they start a queen cell, you know they are queenless. Then you can decide how you want to replace the queen by letting them raise one, if they can in your locale yet, or buying one. Chaos and fighting at the entrance often times means robbing.

[Nantom670]

misread and deleted

[Michael Bush]

My hives are all touching.

Few problems with robbing. Feeding sets off robbing more than having then close, but having them further apart may help a little with preventing robbing. Reduced entrances will help more.