If the young swan has imprinted on you, meaning you raised it and it now follows you around, etc., you probably will never be able to give it to another home unless it is extremely protected against other people, predators or domesticated pets. Once imprinted, it will probably be killed because it trusts too much.

Therefore, keeping the bird with ducks and geese may not be a bad idea as long as you can watch out for predators, etc. You will need to provide it a large area to walk and spray it with water several times a day. You can also get a large kiddie pool or pool liner and place it flush into the ground. DO NOT have any steep banks or the bird will re-injure the leg.

You can use an inflow and outflow pipe to fill the liner with water and then the outflow will take the dirty water from the pond liner. The ducks and geese will also like this man-made pond and the swan will be able to live a sheltered life with you, but still be able to swim. The pond liner should be at least 15 feet long and 2 feet deep to allow the bird to swim whenever it wants. Better yet, if you place this liner in a pen (enclosed top and bottom), you can leave the door open in the daytime so that the swan can take a dip and then close the door at night allowing it to have access to water at night but be completely protected from predators. Just make sure that no predators can get to the swan in the daytime with the door open.

If you choose not to pen the water area, you can place the swan in a barn or other enclosure that ensures no predator can get it at night. This will be the only way that you will be able to protect the bird from predators at night. Good luck and let us know how this situation works out. We're glad to know that the broken leg healed because with waterfowl, this is not usually the case or the wound does not heal properly which causes many waterfowl to lose their life. The Regal Swan