> Tanging, the act of hitting metal objects together to produce a clanging sound, is used by some beekeepers to induce flying swarms to settle. The effectiveness of this practice is anecdotally supported, but has never been experimentally tested. In this experiment, four swarms were exposed to tanging during the first 255 ± 112 m of their flights to new nest sites. In total, tanging was performed over 1019 m, for 22 min 56 sec. No evidence was found that tanging causes a flying swarm to settle.

> While this experiment cannot answer where, how, or why the practice of tanging began, it does demonstrate that tanging does not cause flying swarms to settle.

Michael L Smith. Tanging does not cause flying swarms to settle
Journal of Apicultural Research 52(5): 190-193 (2013)

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