There are words in beekeeping that have specific meaning. Like every other niche area, beekeeping has it's own terms and "lingo". Unfortunately, some folks have had the misfortune to not learn all the terms or to use them as if they are interchangeable.
Let's look at some beekeeping terms.
Nest- A nest is made up of the wax combs and everything bees put into the cells such as eggs, larvae, pollen, honey and more.
Hive- A hive is an enclosure inside which bees will build a nest. Some nests are constructed outdoors or externally under a tree limb for example and thus have no actual "hive". Technically a tree, a house wall, and a beekeepers boxes are all examples of Hives.
Super- A Super is a box on the stack of a hive which is placed on top or above the brood section.
Supering- Supering is the action of placing a box on the top of the hive stack.
Under-Supering- Under-Supering is the action of placing a box below the other Supers but above the brood section in the hive stack.
Nadir- To Nadir is to place a box at the bottom of the hive stack.
Swarm- A swarm is the collective of bees following a queen leaving a nest to go out and build a new nest in which to begin a new colony. It is the process of propagating the species as a super-organism.
Abscond- When bees abscond, they all or most of them are leaving a hive or nest site because of a threat to the colony or face hive conditions that no longer safely allow a colony to inhabit it.
These seem to be some of the most misused and interchangeably used terms I have seen used. For a lot of people, they see no problem in using these terms non-specifically. However, when we get to looking and working at beekeeping more scientifically, these terms and their specific meanings become more important to use correctly.
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