Swan Behavior

[Regal Swan]

[Betty Burkett]

Our female, Juliet, had no cob last year. Took her 2 eggs from another pen and Both hatched. Juliet now has 2 unfertilized eggs and the two year old cygnets with her. In 18 years I’ve never seen cygnets behaving like they are. They are very aggressive and big, no doubt males. At their age they are sitting on the nest when Juliet isn’t. These cygnets aren’t mature enough to mate but one did mount Juliet for 20 minutes. As their daily feeder they are after me to kill me. What’s going on? Should I catch, clip them and relocate them to another lake? We have 9 lakes in our gated community. The other two eggs left with the pen last year are very sweet and are clutchmates of the aggressive ones?

[Swan Expert]

Hi Betty

Yes, the behavior you are describing is normal swan behavior in cygnets that are now ready to mate and have no idea how to deal with the increase in sex hormones. We have seen mating behavior in cygnets as early as 1-2 years of age. Are all of of your swans clipped? Are there any predators in your lakes that a clipped swan cannot escape? If the answer is yes to question number one, then you might consider clipping and relocation to another area pond. However, if the answer to predators is yes and no escape, you need to consider which lake you can safely relocate because relocation can result in serious injury or death to the cygnets if they cannot fly and escape predators. Sex hormone levels should return to normal levels in a few weeks and the cygnets’ behavior will settle. The Regal Swan

[Carolyn]

I have a pair of mute swans and a 2 year old swan (their daughter). The male seems to have divorced his mate and has taken up with the daughter and has started running his mate out of the ponds and biting her. The cob has mated with his daughter, but she seems to be not interested in sitting on the nest, the cob is doing all the sitting, which does have eggs laid by is mate that he no longer wants anything to do with except to chase and bite. What should we do, if anything? Thanks

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