You have a very imprinted mute juvenile swan who now thinks he is a person instead of a swan. He may never get over this as swans raised by people with little interaction with swan parents or cygnets at an early age, become imprinted. You may need to keep him in the barn at night for his safety. He does not know how to protect himself and placing him in the pond only increases his panic because if a predator did come after him, he would not have any clue how to handle the situation. Because of this, he is easy pickings for a predator, such as coyote, fox, bobcat, etc. These predators even though nocturnal could kill him if they just happen to be passing by even in the daytime.

If he will sit by you and stay in or near water's edge with you, this will give him some pond time. If he fails to go to the water even if you are nearby, the only solution will be to keep a small kiddie pool on the outside of the barn, let him roam supervised around the barn to get into the kiddie pool, etc., during the daytime and keep him indoors at night. Unfortunately, unless he calms down and understands that the other swans are not going to hurt him, this behavior will continue. Our best advice would be to try and acclimate him to the pond by sitting nearby while the other swans talk to him. This may change his behavior.

Be careful with de-icing devices on lakes, especially if they have any parts that turn or with lines that the swans might be caught. We had a case where a swan was severely injured when his foot became entangled in an anchoring line and was pulled into the pump area. Also, predators such as bobcats, coyotes, etc., may use ponds with ice to easily access swans, ducks or geese during the winter as they can walk across iced areas. If the swans stay in your area during inclement weather, they must be constantly provided food and sheltered from excessive winds which may cause objects to be blown into the swans, breaking necks, legs or wings. If winds are too excessive, the swans can still sustain broken limbs or necks.

As far as the bumblefoot, you might get him to a waterfowl or avian veterinarian. The doctor may be able to tape or treat the foot so that it does not get so bad that he cannot walk or a bad infection is generated.

If Forrest cannot be acclimated and becomes a hardship, please let me know and we'll see if we can find him a home as an educational bird. Good luck. The Regal Swan
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