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Swans are very unlikely to break your arms! A healthy diet for swans does NOT include white bread! Corn is much better for them. Last years cygnets become this years juveniles. Swans become adults after about three years. Any two adult swans that become a bonded pair will fly off to find a suitable territory (where there are no other swans) to build their nest, lay their eggs, and rear their young. Breeding pairs will remain close to their nest until their cygnets fly away. There is no definite time when this happens. It may be six months, or it could be into January of the following year if the male swan (cob) is very 'laid back' and not too concerned about the offspring staying on. Some males can't wait for their cygnets to leave and will start chasing them - sometimes actually attacking or killing them if they don't take the hint. Once swans have established a new territory, they will stay around it to defend it against takeover. Swans mate for life, but if one dies, then after a period of greiving, the other will move on, and may find a new mate. Breeding pairs normally produce eggs at the end of March. Incubation takes about 35 days, and the eggs normally hatch in the first week of May. Breeding swans moult at different times - the female soon after the eggs have hatched, which is usually the first week of May, and the males will begin his moult when the female is fully feathered again, so their is always one of the pair able to defend the family against intruders or predators. The moult takes an average of six weeks. Non-breeding swans usually start their moult towards the end of June or beginning of August.
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