Unfortunately, the situation you describe is going to cause more problems if you get a male swan. First, the two female swans have apparently paired as they are laying non-fertile eggs. In the swan world, males will mate with males, build the nest and obviously produce no eggs. Female swans will mate with female swans, nest and produce non-fertile eggs. This is nature.

Now that this mating and nesting has been going on for years, the females have obviously paired as mates. If you bring in a male, there is no way to know if he or either of the females will be willing to accept each other as mates. If a male and a female do decide to choose each other as mates, then you will have an odd female. The new male and even her mate could seriously injure or kill the remaining female bird. If the male refuses to mate with either bird and feels threatened in the habitat, he may seriously injure or kill both of the females.

Additionally, there are now state laws requiring permits for possession and breeding of mute swans. You may need to get a permit from your state Fish & Wildlife commission to see if you can bring another swan onto the pond. If you get a male and one of the females successfully reproduces offspring, you will be responsible for all veterinary medical care of all cygnets to included pinioning. Pinioning is the permanent surgical remedy to keep the swans from flying as most states require this procedure for captive swans.

Pinioning must be done between 1-3 weeks of age, which means that you will need to capture all cygnets, transport them to a veterinarian and return them back to the parents within about 2-3 hours. If you do not have an avian veterinarian within your location, this could be a problem as most veterinarians are not specialized in waterfowl pinioning, especially swans. Failure to have the cygnets returned to the parents in a timely fashion may mean abandonment by the parents.

Finally, once the cygnets are approximately 8-10 months of age, the parents will try to remove them from the pond before the next breeding season. You will need to find a home for the cygnets. Mute swans can produce anywhere from 1-13 cygnets a year. Swans and their young are really high maintenance and under state laws for feral species, you will be responsible for all veterinary medical care and daily upkeep.

In our opinion, you have the best situation currently without having cygnets. State laws have mandated permits and other veterinary medical care with swans and unless you can financially take care of more than two swans and have a lot of time to address daily upkeep and veterinary medical care as well as find new homes for the cygnets when they are leaving the pond, getting a male is really not a good option in this situation. The Regal Swan