Peter:
Thanks for your indefatigable watchful eye and thanks for brining the
Bethany (Oklahoma) Bee Ban issue to the national forefront. What I saw on
the local TV network last night regarding same was not “aggressive
swarms,” but a few dozen bees gathering water from someone’s bird-water
fountain, one of those self-contained miniature cascade varieties. The
owner said the bees had initially started to come to his birdfeeder
(hummingbird feeders are common in Oklahoma) for the sugar solution but
now they come to fetch water:
http://newsok.com/article/3088387
As we all have experienced in bee-removal, people tend to use the
term “swarm” broadly, usually in the sense of “a throng” or “a colony.”
Not the real “swarm” we all are familiar with. For instance, twenty honey
bees will be a “swarm” to these alarmists. Or they will ask you “How many
swarms (colonies) do you manage?” A fist-size of stragglers, when you
finish your removal job, can be a 10,000-strong new colony: the bees are
back!
For those peculiar minds interested in lexicography and etymology, here is
what the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) says regarding the origin of the
word “swarm” :
swarm (_____), n. Forms: 1 suearm, swearm, swerm, 4_7 swarme, 6 swerm, 4_
swarm.
[OE. swearm, = Fris., MLG. swarm, OHG. suar(a)m (MHG. swarem, swarm, G.
schwarm) swarm of bees or insects, ON. svarmr tumult (Norw. dial. svarm):--
-OTeut. *swarmaz.
The root is usually identified with that of Skr. svárati sounds, resounds,
svará, svára sound, voice, and connected further with sur- in L. susurrus
hum, MLG. surren to hum, MHG. surm humming, Lith. surmà pipe, etc. But the
etymological meaning may be that of agitated, confused, or deflected
movement, in which case swarm and swerve might arise from parallel
formations on the same base; cf. the parallelism of swarm v.2 and swarve
v.2; Norw. dial. svarma to be giddy, stagger, dream, and svarva to turn,
go in a circle, stagger, be agitated (see swarf v.); Icel. svarfla and
svarmla _praecipitanter contrectare, huc illuc raptare'; also the meanings
of G. schwärmen to swarm, rove, riot, fall into reverie, rave.
The existence of a mutated form in OE. (early WS. *swierm) cannot be
inferred with certainty from the late instance of swerm (Napier OE.
Glosses 156/21), but such a form is found on the Continent in WFris.
swerm, MLG., MDu. swerm (Du. zwerm), Da. sværm, Sw. svärm; cf. the vb.]
1. a. A body of bees which at a particular season leave the hive or main
stock, gather in a compact mass or cluster, and fly off together in search
of a new dwelling-place, under the guidance of a queen (or are transferred
at once to a new hive).
Here “Under the guidance of (girls) scouts” more likely.
Due to this liberal currency of the term, whenever I get a bee-call, I
must ask: “Is that swarm a living colony inside a structure or is it a
cluster hanging on a limb or sprawled on a wall?” The caller’s response
to this question will help me clarify what to prepare and expect.
Yoon
YSK HONEY FARM
Shawnee, OK
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