Usually, the mother swan will sit on the nest with cygnets until the last one hatches. However, this totally depends on the timing of the last cygnet. If for instance, a swan has laid four eggs, and three have hatched within 1/2 to 1 day of each other, she will not wait an extra day for the fourth cygnet to hatch. The mother will take the cygnets out onto the pond within 24 hours of their hatching. If the fourth cygnet has not hatched, by the time that the other three cygnets are ready to go on the pond, it may be left behind, even totally abandoned. Nature does not allow viable cygnets to die in order to wait for a non-hatched cygnet to enter to the world or wait for a runt to catch-up. As cruel as this may sound, it is nature's way of ensuring the survival of the fittest. Otherwise, the entire family and possibly species could be lost.

Once the cygnets are taken out into the pond for the first week, the mother swan will bring them back to the nest and sit on the young birds throughout their rest, day or night. By the end of the week, the mother swan will start keeping the cygnets away from the original nest so that a predator does not find the youngsters. Each day on the pond increases the strength, weight and height of the birds. If the cygnets make it to the size of a large duck (approximately 4 months of age), the chances of survival increase significantly.

The mother swan will also allow the cygnets to rest on her back for further protection if they get tired on the open water. Beneath mom's wings, the cygnets can comfortably and safely rest.

Now, can cygnets be stepped on, crushed, severely injured or even killed? Absolutely. Parent swans have huge feet and can accidently step on the cygnets, especially if the parents are in the process of trying to protect the cygnets from a predator or if a cygnet gets under the parent and the parent cannot see it. So, yes, injuries can happen. We would suggest that you check on the nest again tomorrow, to see if the cygnet is still on the nest. If not, then there is always the possibility that something was wrong and the parents either intentionally banished it which would mean instant death or the young bird just died. Hopefully, neither of these situations occurred and you will see the cygnet as well as new cygnets tomorrow. The Regal Swan