We do not normally condone just anyone petting the cygnets. However, in the case of the swan keepers, which if the swans are that comfortable with this person we would assume that this may be the case otherwise the parents will light into a person, it is not a problem. We frequently handle the young while parents are watching because it allows the swan family to understand that there is to be no harm. Cygnets must be pinioned at 1-3 weeks of age and veterinary medical care rendered during this time and every 3 months thereafter. If you do not handle the cygnets until the time that they must go to the veterinarian, parents get upset when the cygnets are taken from them and may not accept them back. The key is to let the parents see you with the cygnets and that no harm is occurring.

If you are alluding to this fact as being the result that the cygnet can no longer be found as if the parents may have shunned the bird, not usually the case. Birds do not have a keen sense of smell (scent) that mammals have so picking up a baby bird is not going to result in the family from shunning it or harming it in any way. You just cannot remove the baby from its parents for any length of time. More than likely, as we have seen this a lot this year, some swans are becoming parents for the first time and have no clue how to protect or care for the young. It is by the grace of God that some of these little ones survive if they are the first clutch produced by swan parents. By the second year of mating, the young parents get a handle on how to care and protect the cygnets.

If the parents do not know how to protect or will not protect, the cygnets will become a food source for many predators such as hawks, owls, turtles, egrets and herons and even large fish. The Regal Swan