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Author Topic: Tanging- the myth lives on  (Read 14443 times)

Offline iddee

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #20 on: September 27, 2009, 03:07:07 pm »
Do all swarms land???  I have seen them go from the hive to a hollow tree, non-stop. I have seen them come into sight from an unknown source, then continue on to an unknown destination. I'm sure you will say they landed somewhere, but if not within my grasp, I don't consider it landing.

Drumming seems to work well to get them out of the air and into a cluster, where I will have a chance to get them into a hive. After all, that is my goal. Why they do it doesn't interest me. Getting them into a hive does.

It only took scientists about 1,000 years to learn what grandmas knew. IE: Chicken soup eases cold symptoms. It made big headlines about 25 years ago, written just that way. Maybe in another 1,000 years scientists will learn why drumming "tanging" works. Until then, you will just have to have faith, or not use it. Your choice.
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Online Kathyp

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #21 on: September 27, 2009, 03:07:50 pm »
how about this?  if banging pots works for you, bang on.  if it doesn't, don't bang.  it's not rocket science folks.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline buzzbee

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #22 on: September 27, 2009, 03:31:16 pm »
If a swarm is flying over heading to another destination,what have you got to lose?I tried following a few I saw and they got away. The next two I drummed(tanged) and they landed immediately.I really don't think my charming personality is why they stayed. :)  I will always keep a pan or top board handy and something to pound on it with.If you don't at least try to land them,you have no one but yourself for not taking a chance on free bees.
Maybe next year we can try a more widespread tanging contest to see how many we can catch this way.
Maybe I'll make an entry on the calendar to see how many we can catch this way.Could be an interesting study!!(non scientific of course) ;)

bigbearomaha

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #23 on: September 27, 2009, 04:32:41 pm »
Quote
Maybe next year we can try a more widespread tanging contest to see how many we can catch this way.

 I think that would be an interesting experiment.   I for one, would be willing to give it a shot as I go to each swarm call, just to have a little fun and see what does ( or doesn't) happen.

Bjorn, I took your attitude as insulting and derogatory  as it tended toward taking the discussion toward drinking and other unrelated discussion.  if you have something interesting to add to the discussion, in terms of observations of it working, not working, theories on it either way, I would be glad to take them into consideration.  Essentially, I just felt you were being rude and derisive in your first few posts, If I misinterpreted that, my apologies, but that is what  I got from your posts.

Big Bear


Offline gaucho10

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #24 on: September 27, 2009, 04:38:20 pm »
bigbearomaha,  Please don't take anything seriously on this website or any website for that matter.  I think this discussion is pretty interesting and I like a few joke once in a while...even when people make jokes on my own threads.  Keep it up yea all!! :-D
My favorite comedy program used to be Glenn Beck--The only thing is that after I heard the same joke over and over again it became BOOOORING.....

People who have inspired me throughout my life---Pee-wee Herman, Adolph Hitler, George W. Bush, Glenn Beck.
Notice I did not say they were people who I admire !!!

bigbearomaha

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #25 on: September 27, 2009, 04:44:15 pm »
It's likely I am taking it "too seriously"  I am a network tech and on the Linux/tech forums  I usually frequent, there is little to no off topic 'social' chit chat.  On those forums, that is akin to trying to 'steal' a thread and not looked upon well.  So, It is in all likelihood you are right.   I will try to 'relax' a bit more.

Big Bear

Offline iddee

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #26 on: September 27, 2009, 04:51:38 pm »
bigbearomaha, Bjorn and I are always picking and teasing each other, so I guess I am as much to blame as anyone. You just have to overlook our jabs at and toward each other.We are actually friends, just like to have a little fun with the other one.

PS....Besides, He's a yankee. You can't expect much.   :-D   :evil:

Just had to get one last one in.  :roll:
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline buzzbee

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #27 on: September 27, 2009, 05:23:54 pm »
We all strive to keep things on the light side here. if someones posts bother you ,you can put them on your ignore list.You have to be able to take a little ribbing here once in a while. a lot of us here have became good friends and toss a zinger at each other once in a while.It is all in good fun.
These guys laughed when I posted about panning in a swarm,but seriously,it was funny(no oxymoron  intended).Fun can be interjected with serious conversation with no real harm done.

Now,has anyone else tanged in a swarm?I'm sure there are more stories out there. :shock:

Offline SlickMick

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #28 on: September 27, 2009, 05:44:47 pm »
I remember that as a child no more than 10 we lived in the bush (at least 55 years ago). I recall my father getting very excited one day that there was a swarm of bees flying overhead and to grab something metal and to start banging it which we all did furiously as we raced through the scrub after the swarm. We were all told that all this noise sounds like thunder and the bees have to find a place to wait out the storm.

It must have landed at a reachable place because my father was able to hive it. I wasn't so lucky, being inflicted with a sting and bawling my head off in pain only to be told by my father that the bee was going to die so what did I have to cry about.

There you go! Tanging occured. Swarm landed. None of us had fingers from left hand in either ear.

Mick

Offline rast

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #29 on: September 27, 2009, 05:57:11 pm »
 Most unusual. This subject came up this morning in Sunday school. An older lady, whose brother has kept bees since he was a kid was describing how her brother would start yelling to bring pots when he would see one of his hives swarming. She said it usually worked for him.
Fools argue; wise men discuss.
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Offline bud1

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #30 on: September 27, 2009, 06:57:17 pm »
i bang on a truck hood or grab a 22 and pop a couplea shots off works fo me
to bee or not to bee

Offline hollybees

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #31 on: September 27, 2009, 07:06:10 pm »
bigbearomaha,

I'm glad you posted this topic...I'd never heard of "tanging" before.
I found the post to be very interesting..and I must admit somewhat entertaining  :evil:  :-D

Paul

Offline BjornBee

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #32 on: September 27, 2009, 07:08:23 pm »
Most unusual. This subject came up this morning in Sunday school. An older lady, whose brother has kept bees since he was a kid was describing how her brother would start yelling to bring pots when he would see one of his hives swarming. She said it usually worked for him.

Ok, rast.... Red rover red rover, send rast on over.....  :-D

The pot thing seem to me is three distinct areas.

1) Getting a swarming hive to land the swarm.

2) Getting a swarm to move lower from one branch, to a lower branch, if not all the way to the ground and into a hive

3) Stopping a swarm that is coming from somewhere and headed to somewhere else.

Lets tackle these one at a time. I'll go slow, since we still have some southern gentlemen lurking about (Ok, iddee....that was for you...  :-D  )

#1....someone sees a hive swarming. The beekeeper yells to "bring the pots". The swarm land on a branch within eyesight of the hive after the beekeeper goes bangin away.

Why would I think, or better yet, please convince me, that it was for the banging of the pots. Studies out of Cornell clearly has shown that a hive swarming, will almost always land within eyesight of the hive the swarm was issued.

Now, I understand that you did not suggest what happened AFTER the beekeeper called for the pots. It was a very short story void of many details other than an old beekeeper that would call for pots when seeing a hive in the act of swarming.

So what was he banging the pots for....

1) To get them to cluster
2) To get them to land at a lower height.
3) To go directly into a hive.

#1, has been clearly shown to happen for almost all swarms when first issued. In fact, a good beekeeper many times can find the original colony by knowing that most swarms intially land within 100 meters. And that was without any pots being banged.

I'll stop now in the interest of boring some or being called a know it all. Maybe we can explore this first option of the first set of numbered items.

We know that swarms will form a cluster outside the original hives almost always. Anyone have anything to add or suggest on this point?

I hope that once this topic point is finished, we can move onto claims that banging pots will cause a swarm to fly into a hive under the tree.

Comments?
« Last Edit: September 27, 2009, 07:18:47 pm by BjornBee »
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Offline BjornBee

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #33 on: September 27, 2009, 07:10:56 pm »
bigbearomaha,

I'm glad you posted this topic...I'd never heard of "tanging" before.
I found the post to be very interesting..and I must admit somewhat entertaining  :evil:  :-D

Paul

I agree Paul! I'm having a blast!   :piano:
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bigbearomaha

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #34 on: September 27, 2009, 07:17:38 pm »
From all reports I have heard and read, the 'tanging' somehow induces swarming bees to 'drop' from whatever altitude they are flying at or clustering at to find lower ground. 

The 'tanger' takes advantage of that by having a box/hive/whatever placed beneath them so they end up in his/her possession.

My interest in this is that even in a myth, there is usually a grain of truth at it's center.

Is there perhaps a frequency that can cause bees to 'drop' by affecting their equilibrium or inducing 'fear' in the bees?

Was it coincidence that made people find this might work, leading to a general pot banging hullabaloo for centuries afterward, hoping to find that same frequency and have a colony almost literally 'drop' in their lap?

These 'myths' never come about for no reason whatsoever.  It is just a matter of curiosity and armchair investigation to see what truth might lie behind the myth.

Big Bear

Offline BjornBee

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #35 on: September 27, 2009, 07:33:45 pm »
Big Bear,
Can you pass on some of those reports. Except for some comments on the point #1 listed above in one of my previous posts about settling a hive that is in the act of swarming, and easily dismissed, I can not find much.

What reports are you talking about? Do they confirm or show anything in regards to #2 or #3?

I found one here on a witchcraft site, but it only has to do with landing a swarm from a hive in the act of swarming.

http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/TANGING_THE_BEES/id/187701

I did find this for "wu-tanging it"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Wu-Tanging%20it

I found this also but again, it is to settle a swarm, to which a hive swarming will settle on their own.

http://onlinedictionary.datasegment.com/word/tanging

I can not find much more than a few references in getting a swarming hive to settle a swarm. So, maybe you can post some of those reports you keep mentioning.
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Offline iddee

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #36 on: September 27, 2009, 07:46:31 pm »
>>>>2) Getting a swarm to move lower from one branch, to a lower branch, if not all the way to the ground and into a hive<<<<

I have never heard that one. As stated before, all I have ever heard is getting them to land when they are airborne. As for leaving the hive, if it gets them to land at 6 feet, rather than 40 feet high, I will take it any day.

As I said above, I have seen them leave the hive and go directly to a hollow tree, up to a quarter mile away. They do not always land within a hundred meters of the hive.

In fact, I don't think bees do anything often enough to be predictable, so something with a track record of hundreds of years, I will follow. If it only gets the few that wouldn't otherwise land close, plus the ones that would have, it means more bees for me.

Now, what is the harm if we drummers are wrong? It certainly doesn't scare the swarm away, so why not do it? It's better than watching the occasional swarm that doesn't land close as it disappears across the tree tops.

PS. I googled "drumming bees". Here is what I got. Read to your little heart's content.

Results 1 - 10 of about 15,300,000 for drumming bees. (0.42 seconds)
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

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bigbearomaha

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #37 on: September 27, 2009, 07:48:59 pm »
bjorn,  I am pretty sure  i mentioned earlier,  I am referring to reports from people I have spoken to locally who told me of this phenomenon.  keep up bubba.

If you are looking for scientific studies, then um, I guess when I said there isn't a lot of that to find, hence asking folks in here about it, that musta slipped by you as well.

Hello? hello? is this thing turned on?  Can everyone in the back row hear me?  Hmm Guess not.

Big Bear

Offline iddee

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #38 on: September 27, 2009, 07:52:58 pm »
bigbearomaha, if you couldn't find much out there, maybe you should look for drumming, rather than tanging. 15 million hits on google is what I would call more than "not much".
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Offline BjornBee

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Re: Tanging- the myth lives on
« Reply #39 on: September 27, 2009, 08:11:52 pm »
bigbearomaha, if you couldn't find much out there, maybe you should look for drumming, rather than tanging. 15 million hits on google is what I would call more than "not much".

iddee,
I'll give big bear credit, he does have the term correct. I can find the word "tanging" in regards to swarming bees at least a hundred years back.

I thought "drumming" was getting bees to move up and/or out of an old gum log?
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