Swan Care

On several occasions my friend has offered me swans. She has a pair of black swans, and has recently offered me two of the babies. i am intrigued, but unsure of how to care for them. i guess the biggest issue is a pond. We use kiddie pools for our ducks, but i would assume swans would need an actual pond? If so, how big would it need to be for two swans? Do they need to be locked up at night in a pen? What do you feed them?

i'm thinking if i start planning now, perhaps we could be ready next year to add some to our family. Thank you in advance for any advice.

Enchanted Sunrise Farms said:

On several occasions my friend has offered me swans. She has a pair of black swans, and has recently offered me two of the babies. i am intrigued, but unsure of how to care for them. i guess the biggest issue is a pond. We use kiddie pools for our ducks, but i would assume swans would need an actual pond? If so, how big would it need to be for two swans? Do they need to be locked up at night in a pen? What do you feed them?

i'm thinking if i start planning now, perhaps we could be ready next year to add some to our family. Thank you in advance for any advice.

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I'm also curious about some of these swan questions. How do people typically get started with swans? Or, how would you populate a pond with an independent pair of swans?

We have 3 swans and one cygnet hatched 4-22-15. We bought ours from the city where we live; they sell surplus in the fall. A pair will mate for life. Our first one lost its mate last spring and has been okay on his own. We have 24 homes around our small lake and enjoy seeing them swimming around. Their wings have been clipped by the vet and each has an identification chip. Our homeowner association bought the first two swans in 1997. I recommend starting with a pair.

SwanMom said:

We have 3 swans and one cygnet hatched 4-22-15. We bought ours from the city where we live; they sell surplus in the fall. A pair will mate for life. Our first one lost its mate last spring and has been okay on his own. We have 24 homes around our small lake and enjoy seeing them swimming around. Their wings have been clipped by the vet and each has an identification chip. Our homeowner association bought the first two swans in 1997. I recommend starting with a pair.

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Why do you clip their wings? What is the purpose of doing that, since flying could help them evade predators, correct?

SwanMom said:

We have 3 swans and one cygnet hatched 4-22-15. We bought ours from the city where we live; they sell surplus in the fall. A pair will mate for life. Our first one lost its mate last spring and has been okay on his own. We have 24 homes around our small lake and enjoy seeing them swimming around. Their wings have been clipped by the vet and each has an identification chip. Our homeowner association bought the first two swans in 1997. I recommend starting with a pair.

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Interesting! Did you ensure the pair weren't full siblings? Is it recommended for them to be genetically diverse in order to populate a body of water with swans?

Do you provide any supplementary feeding or shelter?

BTW, our cygnet disappeared the night of April 27th, not even a week after it hatched. :-(

Each state has its own requirements regarding clipping flight feathers of swans. We purchased our pair from the city and the city vet clips the wings when the cygnets are born. The wings were clipped when we purchased our pair. You can see more information from this post on Backyard Chickens:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/665118/swan-question-tag-or-clip-the-wings
and this post at the Stanley Park site:
http://www.stanley-park-swans.com/cgi-bin/ask/index.pl?read=7745
and here:
http://peterdickinson.hubpages.com/hub/An-opinion-on-to-pinion-or-not-to-pinion

Some neighbors feed the swans and we used cracked corn to supplement their diet beyond the greenery they eat along the lake's edge.

Clipping swan's wings was begun in our city in the 1950s after Queen Elizabeth donated two to the city and they want to keep them close to the lakes where they live.
https://www.lakelandgov.net/library...l-collections-home/frequently-asked-questions
http://the863magazine.com/features/...he-city-for-nearly-60-years-by-james-coulter/

In some places clipping is done to keep the swans from migrating. Whether it's a good idea or not, I'm not well educated enough about swans to say.
http://ottawa.ca/en/residents/animals-and-pets/other-animals/royal-swan-faqs

We don't have any way of providing shelter for them as all the lots bordering the lake are independently owned.

Ramblin Rooster said:

Why do you clip their wings? What is the purpose of doing that, since flying could help them evade predators, correct?

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if I go buy a pair of swans and put them on s lake with no fencing I would definitely clip their wings otherwise they could just fly away and you could lose them. I wouldn't worry that much when it comes to predators with swans they usually (should) have a lake to get on to get away and are very aggressive. I know lots of people with swans and the only time any off them have lost an adult was from sickness. Just make sure there are no bobcats in the area tho lol I lost a goose to one.