At four months old, the cockerel (or rooster) is like a teenage boy with no control of his hormones. Many species of bird starts the breeding process within the first year of life, but swans are special. Typically, they start to think about mating some time between the ages of three and four. They tend to mate in the spring/early summer time, and you can usually expect up to a dozen eggs to be fertilized by the male.
It's not uncommon for only a few of the babies to survive to adulthood, but it's also not uncommon for many of them to survive, depending on where the nest is located and what predators are around.
So, if you want seven swans a swimming (or, depending on how you read the song, forty-two swans-a-swimming) what does that entail?
Well, once again, we have to look at British royalty.
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| For the record, their babies might not be -as cute- as ducklings, but they're pretty darn cute. |
The Queen, at any given time, can claim ownership of all unmarked swans in open water. A "marked" swan typically has a nick taken out of the webbing between its toes, letting people know "this is already owned by someone else, but it's probably safer to deal with me than be accused of poaching the Queen's birds." However, swans are serious business in England, where they're considered a native species. There's even an annual event called
Swan Upping that involves doing a census of "the queen's birds."
So trying to grab some wild ones in England can get you in pretty serious trouble.
But what if you want to buy some from a breeder in the United States?
Well, then you might need to pay attention to your local laws.
