Capturing cygnets is a very tenuous situation due to the danger of being struck with wings or bitten by the parents for the capturers as well as dangerous for the cygnets because they can become separated from the parents, run into harmful areas or be accidently stepped on by the parents if the capture is on land. If by boat, the cygnets will dive under the boat and the boat motor must immediately be stopped so that the cygnets are not killed or injured by the propellor.

This is why we strongly advocate the use of kayaks. If the capture is going to be in the water, you need several kayaks to go behind the family of swans and herd them into an area on land which they can be readily captured, such as a pen (plastic poultry fencing attached to wooden stakes with no protruding objects to poke the young birds and big enough to house parents and cygnets), a row of hedge (no thorns, etc.), or a building in which can serve as a makeshift pen (such as a back patio, etc.). You do not want to run the family into rocks, drop-offs, or areas which are so steep that the cygnets can be trapped and hurt their legs or feet as this will usually result in death to any waterfowl because of the inability to use their legs in the future to climb onto banks, enter and exit the water.

If the swans can be herded into a makeshift pen area, then you will need to use many hands to immediately grab the cygnets, place them in a box (lined with a towel so they do not hurt their legs from the slippery bottom of the box) immediately pinioned, and returned to the parents. If you can capture one of the parents to go with the cygnets, that is even better, but you will need a bigger box and again, many people to help you. The ideal situation is one in which you can have a veterinarian at the pond, conduct the pinioning within the sight and sound of the parents, wait 30 minutes after pinioning to ensure there are no problems such as bleeding or stitch removal, and then return all cygnets together back to the parents. IF YOU MUST take the cygnets to the veterinarian, they can only be gone for a maximum of 2 hours or the parents may not take them back. Keep the cygnets cooled down with room temperature water throughout the travel process and have a small dish of water readily available to them.

MAKE sure that the parents see you with the cygnets and DO NOT release one cygnet at a time as they may abandon the last cygnet. Use only one person to go to the pond area, hold up the box, let the cygnets call to the parents and once the parents see the cygnets, place all of the cygnets at the pond's edge or slightly above the edge (as long as it is not in a rocky or steep area) and let the cygnets go to the parents.

The Regal Swan