First, is the predation occurring at night or daytime?

Second, how big is your habitat?

Third, all swans, pinioned or non-pinioned (flying) swans are susceptible to any predator. Captive swans which are pinioned and cannot fly lose one of their defenses which is a flying escape. However, having said this, many times the swans are attacked while they sleep or rest on banks and a stealthy predator grabs them before they can even think about flying. So, being pinioned does not necessarily mean that it is the cause for their predation.

Swans usually sleep in the water, especially at night. However, some swans decide to sleep on or near the banks which make them easy prey. Nesting swans are also very susceptible to predation.

Winter months are usually the worst for predation because of the lack of food sources and ponds and lakes freezing. A swan can fall through the ice and drown because it cannot get back onto the ice and out of the freezing water. However, a predator can easily walk onto the ice and grab a sitting bird that cannot swim or fly away due to slippery ice or a patchy area of ice which makes room for take-off almost impossible. A swan needs a good area of clearance to get airborne. Because of this need, even it the bird can fly, many times it does not have the clearance to fully escape a predator.

The best way to keep a captive swan safe from any predator is to keep it overnight in a safe secure pen which is reinforced at the bottom of the pen as well as the top of the pen so that no predator can climb into the pen. This may or may not be practical depending upon the habitat size, location, etc. However, if a pen can be built on the side of the bank, swans can be taught (just like the Peabody Ducks) to walk in prior to dusk and walk out once the sun has fully dawned. If a pen cannot be used, an island moat can be built so that a predator would have a hard time accessing the island, but there are no guarantees that the swans will stay on the island at night.

Nesting swans and cygnets should always be penned. The bottom of the pen should be covered from the bottom rail up to the top of the fence (4 feet) with plastic poultry fencing or other such covering to prevent the cygnets from exiting the pen and becoming separated from the parents.

Again, the 100% safest way to protect the birds is to pen them at night. If the predation is occurring in the daytime, then there might be the possibility of fencing an area with an electrical fence on top of the chain link fence and on the bottom (outside) away from the swans. We have heard of this technique being used, but any predator can circumvent a fence or barrier.

If predation is occurring in the daytime, you might want to pen the swans and procure the services of a professional trapper (if permitted by your state wildlife laws) to trap and relocate the predator. Once a predator knows that it has successfully killed, it will return for another easy meal. Once relocated, the predator cannot return, but its relatives or other predators may saunter in the area and realize that the swans are easy pickings. The only other way to protect the swans is to build a large pen for the swans to live in permanently but you will need a water source that can fill the water feature and a valve to allow dirty water to be drained. You will also need to provide the size of a pen that conforms to your state wildlife laws for keeping the swans penned permanently as well as a separation barrier that can be used to keep mating and nesting swans away from the other swans. This is why the permanent pen solution may not be practical. The Regal Swan