I had two Mute swans arrive on my pond in October 2012. They were quite big but lacked the large knob on their bills so I presume they were juveniles looking for a new home. I checked your excellent web site for information and provided them with the correct food and environment. They seemed happy and decided to stay. We live in Ontario Canada so I put a deicer in the pond. I feed them 50% poultry layer and 50% cracked corn in a covered feeder and a head of lettuce daily. A good portion of the pond was kept open all winter and they both survived and seem very healthy and happy. One of them certainly seems to be dominant over the other.

My questions now are what should I expect to happen now if they decide to stay. I do not know the sex. What if I have two males or two females. If I have one of each will they try and mate this year or are they too young. As they are feral swans if they do mate and have eggs should I let them hatch or should I "doctor" the eggs. If I "doctor them how do you do it?

I have a short video showing their behavior - we think this could be mating - but we don't know how to attach this video for you.

We have some ducks arriving but the swans keep chasing them away. If the ducks were to nest and raise ducklings, would the swans attack and kill the ducklings?

I really hope they stay and would appreciate any advice you can give me.