In Episode 226 of Mother Earth News and Friends, Chris Fritzen of Grand Swan Farm covers some essential info you’d need to know before raising swans as pets or raising swans for profit. Raising swans isn’t like raising chickens; caring for these beautiful birds comes with its own sets of unique challenges and rewards. Learn about what to feed swans, how to keep swans from flying away, how to care for swans in winter, and more.
Scroll down for our episode transcript, and scroll to the bottom for our show-note resources!
Raising Swans Transcript
Kenny Coogan: [00:00:00] Chris, can you guess what the third most popular question is about raising swans?
Chris Fritzen: The cost.
Kenny Coogan: No, it’s not the cost. It’s, are swans aggressive? People want to know. People have heard stories.
Chris Fritzen: Oh, and probably, and they’re probably true. Maybe exaggerated a little bit. I I use the comparison of a Labrador Retriever. If you buy a Labrador Retriever, 90 percent of them are going to be a certain personality, certain temperament, they’re going to be great dogs, but you’ll have that one that doesn’t like the water, the one that’s a little bit aggressive, and so forth.
And swans are the same way. Each swan, each species, has its own personality. They’re individuals and they’re still wild animals. No matter what you do, they’re a wild animal. And normally if you give them their distance they won’t bother you. It’s when [00:01:00] people don’t raise them correctly or they get too friendly with them.
Jessica Anderson: Welcome to the Mother Earth News and Friends podcast. At Mother Earth News for 50 years and counting, we’ve been dedicated to conserving the planet’s natural resources while helping you conserve your financial resources. In this podcast, we host conversations with experts in the fields of sustainability, homesteading, natural health, and more to share all about how you can live well wherever you are in a way that values both people and our Mother Earth.
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Kenny Coogan: Good day, everyone. I am Kenny Coogan, and joining me today is Chris Fritzen, owner of Grand Swan Farm in Indiana. Chris has been raising and breeding swans for 10 years, and in today’s episode, we are going to be talking about raising swans.
Welcome to the podcast, Chris.
Chris Fritzen: Nice to be here, Kenny.
[00:02:24] Raising Swans: Which Species Is Best for You?
Kenny Coogan: I know you are very passionate about the subject of raising swans, and some of the more common species of swan include mute trumpeter and Australian black swans.
Can you describe the differences for our listeners?
Chris Fritzen: Most of the time when people think of swans, they think of the mute swans, and it’s distinguished and very easily identified by its orange beak. All mute swans have orange beaks. The trumpeter swan is a [00:03:00] native to North America. It’s the heaviest flighted bird in North America. The California condor got a bigger wingspan, but it’s not as heavy as a trumpeter swan, and it can be identified by it’s all- black bill. When they’re really young the bill will be kind of pinkish, but at a year old, it will turn all black.
The Australian black swan just by its name, it’s going to be black with a red beak and a white stripe on the top of its beak towards the end of its beak. And then it also has white under feathers for his main flight feathers underneath. And you can’t really tell they have any white feathers unless they raise their wings to, you know, take flight or skip across the pond if they if they can’t fly. So that’s, that’s the three major ones. There’s, there’s also the coscoroba, there’s the black necked swan, there’s the whooper [00:04:00] swan, which is also native to North America, and the tundra swan. There’s seven different species, actually, of swans that’s here on Earth.
[00:04:10] What do Swans Eat?
Kenny Coogan: Now, when people are thinking about raising swans, probably the first thing they want to consider is what do swans eat? So is it easy to feed a swan on your property?
Chris Fritzen: Yeah, it’s, it’s very easy, Kenny. Their natural food in the wild is SAVs or “subaquatic vegetation.” That’s their primary food. In simple terms would be “weeds” that grow in the pond. They have to eat a great deal of those. The average mute or trumpeter swans, which range in weight from 20 to 40 pounds will eat five to eight pounds a day to get enough protein to sustain them.
But when they’re in captivity, most ponds don’t have enough subaquatic vegetation, so [00:05:00] I supplement feed them a year round to make sure they’re kept happy and they stay where they’re supposed to. And I feed them a combination of chicken layer pellets and scratch grains and cracked corn.
That brings the total protein down to about 12%. Too high of a protein diet is not good for their liver. It will cause premature liver failure. So you really want to keep that protein low. For a pair of the bigger swans, the trumpeters or the mutes, these are all things you can pick up at a tractor supply store or any feed store. Most people that have chickens know exactly what I’m talking about. And you just mix it a third, a third, and a third together. And they’ll eat between three and four hundred dollars a year, two swans will, depending on the amount of vegetation in the pond. But you can figure on average three to four hundred dollars a year. You just fill up their feeder. They will not overeat. They only [00:06:00] eat what they need. So you put feed in their feeder. When it gets empty, you put more food in and that keeps them nice and happy.
[00:06:09] How to Care for Swans in the Winter
Kenny Coogan: The second most popular question is how to care for swans in the winter. Could you give us some general tips for shelter or water or property size because these are huge animals.
Chris Fritzen: They are big. The number one thing in cold climates anyway, is you have to have open water, and you can accomplish that by an aerating system. Not a fountain. Fountains don’t work very well. But something that goes to the bottom of your pond and basically blows air out of and it brings that warm water up from the bottom of the pond to the top so that it doesn’t freeze.
And they don’t need much of an area. It can close up for two swans a 10 foot diameter circle. But swans like all waterfowl regulate their body temperature through their legs, [00:07:00] so they will stay in that icy water. It never freezes. And that, that helps keep them from actually freezing. And during the day they will get up on the ice and sun themselves, sleep a little bit, but normally at night they’ll be right back in that ice cold water. And it gets a little, a little scary when you’re sitting inside in front of the fireplace and it’s 10 below zero outside, and you look out there, and there those swans are, and it’s blowing and snowing and freezing, but they do great.
The black Australians, they can handle some cold, but being from Australia, most people will put them up in the wintertime inside a building. Swans absolutely hate being inside a building. And for mutes and trumpeters, even if you build a shelter for them out on the pond, chances are real good, they will not use it. They just won’t go in. Again, they’ll be fine. Keep them well fed and [00:08:00] keep that open water, and they’re good to go. They can take, I’ve had 20, 25 below zero for three days in a row here in Northern Indiana, and all my mutes and trumpeters did great. So that’s, that would be the biggest thing: well fed, keep their tummies warm, and keep open water, and just leave them out on the pond, and they’ll appreciate that.
Kenny Coogan: What about the South American black necked swans? How do they handle the cold?
Chris Fritzen: Not, not as well as the mutes or the trumpeters do or the whoopers. They’re more like the the black Australians. Again, Australia’s hot. So and you never know with black Australians because they will nest more than once a year, sometimes three times a year. And sometimes they want to start their nest in November. And yeah, and in cold climate, you really can’t, you almost have to put them up so the cygnets don’t get frozen and, and so forth, or pull [00:09:00] the eggs so that they don’t hatch and, and keep them nice and warm. But yeah, the, the black Australians don’t do as well, that would be advisable to put them up in the wintertime when it really starts getting cold or they start nesting.
Kenny Coogan: Chris, can you guess what the third most popular question is about raising swans? You might, you might have been surprised by the first two, but I, I feel like you can guess the next one.
Chris Fritzen: For the third one, the cost.
[00:09:30] Are Swans Aggressive?
Kenny Coogan: No, it’s not the cost. It’s, are swans aggressive? People want to know. People have heard stories.
Chris Fritzen: Oh, and probably, and they’re probably true. Maybe exaggerated a little bit. But I tell everybody when I talk to them, because I won’t sell a swan until I, I talked to the individual, make sure they understand the ins and outs and have a proper place for them. I use the comparison of a Labrador Retriever. If you buy a Labrador [00:10:00] Retriever, 90 percent of them are going to be a certain personality, certain temperament, they’re going to be great dogs, but you’ll have that one that doesn’t like the water, the one that’s a little bit aggressive and so forth.
And swans are the same way. Each swan, each species, has its own personality. They’re individuals and they’re still wild animals. No matter what you do, they’re a wild animal. And normally if you give them their distance, they won’t bother you. It’s when people don’t raise them correctly or they get too friendly with them. They want them to be a pet and they start feeding them outside, not on the pond, but up on shore. So now they’re starting to relate people with food. And that’s usually when the problems start because they’ll start demanding the food and you will run that risk of getting a swan that’ll chase the lawnmower. [00:11:00] And he’s just very – normally a male – and it’s only during the spring as a rule because they’re very protective of their territory.
Probably my biggest call I get is, “I’ve got a goose problem, Canada goose problems, and I heard swans will chase them away.” And yes, they will. They, they will protect their territory. I’ve never personally had any of my swans be so aggressive that I can’t be around them. If I’m trying to mess with their little ones, their cygnets, yeah, they will defend their nest to the death, and that’s good and bad on both ends. People have called me and said, “I heard they can be mean, I heard they can do this, they can do that.” If you stand your ground and just say “get back,” put your hand out, make yourself look big, it’s just a bluff, and they’ll stop short of really whacking you one. Or they’ll pinch you. They don’t have teeth, but they can pinch you with their [00:12:00] beak, and it doesn’t feel good, but it’s like a pair of pliers on your skin. And if we just, as humans, let them be wild, always feed them on the water, never on shore, they will rarely come on shore. But when they start, just like a bear or anything else, when they start associating humans with treats and bread and these kinds of things, they can get pretty demanding. And when you see a 7-foot, 35-pound bird coming at you and it’s running, it’s enough to scare you.
[00:12:33] Swans as Pets
Kenny Coogan: Swans are gorgeous animals. When people are considering adding a swan or swan pairs to their homestead, are the best people getting swans, are they getting them to guard their property? And I’m assuming not pets. Or should they be thinking of them as like pond ornaments that need husbandry? Who should be getting a [00:13:00] swan?
Chris Fritzen: Most people, they just love to look at them. Or a goose problem. They are beautiful to watch. They’re just such gorgeous birds. They’re so big and they’re fun to watch and, and that’s most of my calls that I get: “We want to add some beauty to our pond. We’ve always wanted swans. And, and we think it’d be a good addition.” And then that’s when I can really get into, okay, “how big’s your pond? Where do you live? You got to have this, you got to have that. And should I build them a shelter,” just the kind of questions, which let’s say at least I’m more than happy to answer, but it’s, it’s a personal thing, I think more than anything. And as long as they know that this is still a wild animal, you, you don’t want it bonding to you and coming up on shore and following you around the yard. Cause that one day when you’re not there, they’re going to go looking for you. And [00:14:00] you’re running late that night and then they’ll sleep on shore, and that’s not good because that’s where they’re vulnerable. They’re safe out on the water, so they need to be kept wild. Some people even advertise most are hand fed. You can hand feed them. Not good for the swan. That’s just too tame. They need to know to stay in the water, be safe, stay with their parents until they’re old enough to be on their own, to learn how to be a swan and, and so forth. So yeah, most people, they just want to beautify their pond cause they just think they’re gorgeous birds.
[00:14:34] How Many Swans Should You Raise?
Kenny Coogan: Should someone buy an individual swan? Or should they buy two young swans, or should they buy a pair that’s already bonded?
Chris Fritzen: That really depends on the individual. A single swan is a lonely swan. So always in pairs.
If they’re younger swans under a year old, two males will, if they’re brought up together, [00:15:00] will generally, generally, be okay together. But if something happens to one of them, you couldn’t put another male out on the pond, the male that’s already there would kill it. Again, a territory thing. Two females, if you don’t want cygnets, a lot of people prefer two females. They’re just as beautiful and, sure, they’ll lay eggs, they’ll get along fine with each other for the most part, and the eggs won’t be fertile. But then if somebody wants cygnets, I strongly suggest young ones to start with because they don’t become sexually mature until two or three years old.
And if they get them at six months, which would be the fall of the year, then that gives them a year and a half, two years, to kind of get used to what swans are all about: how they act, how to feed them, make sure everything is going good. Because cygnets are a lot of work, and they can be heartbreakers because I [00:16:00] average about a 30 percent mortality rate with cygnets before they reach six months old through one reason or another, either snapping turtles, coyotes, whatever it may be. They’re pretty vulnerable when they’re, when they’re little.
So if somebody doesn’t want their heart broken and have five cygnets one day and three the next and two the next, I would suggest not having cygnets. And then the whole thing comes into, what do you do with the cygnets? Because there’s certain laws and regulations in the country when it comes to the swans.
[00:16:34] Can You Sex a Cygnet?
Kenny Coogan: We’re going to be talking about that in just a minute. But first, what age can you sex a cygnet?
Chris Fritzen: I don’t know of anybody, even people that have been doing this for 30 years, that can reliably vent sex a cygnet before about six months old.
Kenny Coogan: Okay.
Chris Fritzen: What I do is, cause I need to know sooner, I need to know what I have, is I do DNA, a blood sample. And that way, as you send it [00:17:00] into DNA center and tell it what it is, what kind of swan it is. And then they tell you if it’s a male or female. When they’re younger, it’s just next to impossible to accurately vent sex swans.
[00:17:12] Can You Eat Swan Eggs?
Kenny Coogan: Okay. And I’m sure you can eat swan eggs. Is that a common thing? Do people eat swan eggs?
Chris Fritzen: No, no. Again, when it, when it comes down to it, by the time you realize they aren’t fertile, the hatching is anywhere from 35 to 45 days, egg’s pretty bad. Most people, again, because they’re looking to sell them or give them away or something, yeah, just aren’t gonna, aren’t gonna eat the eggs.
Kenny Coogan: But, but if you have 2 females, you’ll get a clutch in the spring?
Chris Fritzen: Just in the spring. Correct.
Kenny Coogan: So you could eat those if you just have females.
Chris Fritzen: Yep. Because you know, they’re not going to be fertile. Yeah, you’re, you are correct.
[00:17:50] How Much Space Do Swans Need?
Kenny Coogan: We want to give them as much space as possible, but can you give me a size of a pond or a property that you think maybe is kind of on the edge of being too [00:18:00] small?
Chris Fritzen: It depends again on the swan. The Australian black’s only being 8 to 12, 13 pounds don’t need as much area as a mute or trumpeter, but even a quarter acre pond, as long as it’s kept fairly clean, that’s, that’s plenty for them because again, they’re going to be pinioned, so they can’t fly. They just need that water.
Swans were not made to walk. No waterfowl was. That’s why they have webbed feet and their legs are set so far back towards the rear end. They’re made to be on the water, not, not in a kiddie pool, not in a fenced in area, and then not land. But unfortunately some people, that’s the way they raise their swans for profit is they never see a pond their entire life. They’re in a fenced in area, grassy area, and they keep them fed and watered, but they never see a pond. And that just causes leg problems, that causes bumblefoot. [00:19:00] And that that’s not treating the swan the way it was meant to be treated.
[00:19:05] How to Keep Swans from Flying Away
Kenny Coogan: You mentioned pinioning. What permitting or other conditions do people need to think about while considering adding them to their homestead? Because I did see that some states, if you’re going to have them do require them to be pinioned, but also, if you don’t do that, then they’re going to be flying away.
Chris Fritzen: Right. Yeah. And that’s mostly because of the mute swan. 2004 Migratory Bird Act when it was enacted, it was a 2000 page thing. And like most legislation, there was so much packed in it. There’s about 200 species of birds in America that were taken off of the protected list and considered invasive species. So New York, Washington, Oregon, California, Michigan is a big one, you’re not allowed to possess mute swans. Quite a few communities have actually gotten degradation [00:20:00] permits from the state DNR to kill them because they claim they are chasing away all the native waterfowl. They eat too much. They’re too aggressive, and so forth and so on. And that’s a debate for another, certainly another podcast, because you can go really deep into that.
So mutes, you just have to check with your local state DNR people to see what the requirements are. Here in Indiana, definitely all mute swans need to be pinioned. And if you’re thinking about buying swans and you want a male and female and you’re going to have cygnets, number one responsibility is to pinion those cygnets before they’re two weeks old. Because you don’t want them flying away, and that’s kind of what started the whole problem was they, they started flying away and creating bigger and bigger and bigger populations. They were never taught to migrate by their parents because their parents didn’t migrate. So they just hang around in one area, and then they eat too much, and they really do disrupt things. [00:21:00] And again, we humans did that to them.
Now the trumpeters, being native, or the whoopers, the only catch there is you do have to have a U.S. Fish and Wildlife migratory bird license to sell, to give, to ,barter or to dispose of a migratory bird. So myself, I have to have a license to sell them. The individuals I sell them to don’t have to have a license, but they get a copy of my form that I have to fill out. Has their name, address, how they’re identified, what sex they are, and so forth. I have to send a copy of that to Minnesota, to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Area. Then at the end of the year, I have to do a yearly report. So that’s what I tell people, if you don’t feel comfortable getting around mom and dad when they have cygnets to be able to pinion them, then you might want to think about trumpeters, because U. S. Fish and Wildlife don’t care if they fly away, they actually want them to fly [00:22:00] away and become part of the wild population.
As far as I know, there’s no kind of regulations for the black Australians, those there just aren’t that many of them out there. So they haven’t become a feral population that, that anybody’s serious about. So there’s just a lot of those things to think about. And of course, if you live in a state, I’ve never known it to happen, but yes, the DNR in California, if you’ve got a mute swan and somebody complains or somebody sees it, they could come and take that bird from you. So just for sure, whatever state you live in, Google it, “mute swans, California”, and there’s all kinds of stuff on the internet that will tell you what the rules and the regulations are and permit requirements are.
Kenny Coogan: I’m assuming you should not do this by yourself in the beginning, but can you learn how to pinion yourself or do you need a avian vet?
Chris Fritzen: No, no, you can do it [00:23:00] yourself. I have a video when people ask me. Some people think pinioning is cruel. But if it’s a choice of pinioning them or having them euthanized, I think pinioning makes sense. And nobody’s going to pay anywhere from $1,500 to $5,000 for a pair of swans and watch them fly away the next day.
Yeah. They, they get upset over that. And, and of course I guarantee that they’re, they’re pinioned. And you can tell if their pinioned it’s pretty obvious when they raise their wings, the one side, they’re just missing all their main flight feathers. If you do it before they’re two weeks old, preferably even at a week old or even three days old, whatever, it’s as simple as taking a pair of household scissors, catching the little booger, and just clipping off the tip of one of its wings. Done. Over with. You put them back with mom and dad. They’re happy now, and they go swimming on their way. Rarely is there any blood. There might be just a little bit. I put a [00:24:00] little bit of that styptic that you use for shaving if you cut yourself on there just to help kind of coagulate things. But, and then off they go and you never have to worry about them flying away.
And some people will say, “well, if they never learn how to fly, they’re on a small fenced in pond, they never will.” That is not true. If they get a headwind, and they like it, and they’ll be gone and they’ll get lost, and they won’t know how to get back home. So unlike clipping other wings, you have to do every fall. And, and that’s not so bad if you’re willing to wrestle a 25, 35 pound bird, which can be a lot of fun.
Kenny Coogan: We’re going to take a quick break to hear a word from our sponsor. And when we return, we’re going to talk about raising swans for profit.
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Kenny Coogan: We’re back with Chris Fritzen, owner of Grand Swan Farm.
So before the ad break, Chris, you had mentioned that swans are individually between $1,500 and $5, 000. And I’ve looked up swans for sale in poultry catalogs or online, and I can confirm that price. But I also noticed that a lot of the people who are selling them are out of stock, so that might get the listeners thinking they want to get into the [00:26:00] swan business. But it’s, but it sounds like it’s more than just getting a pair of swans. You had mentioned the mortality in the cygnets and then $400 a year on food. Can you give us some tips for raising swans for profit?
[00:26:17] Raising Swans for Profit
Chris Fritzen: Yeah it’s….
Kenny Coogan: It’s a big jump from your first one to raising swans for profit, but it seems like a lot of our listeners have 2 to 50 acres. They’re familiar with a lot of domestic waterfowl. So this might be the next step.
Chris Fritzen: When I first got into it, I just loved the birds. And back then, I believe for four of them, I only paid $250 a piece at six months old. And I didn’t ask near enough questions. Shame on me, not realizing that those two pair once they got to be two or three years old, they’re going to try to kill each other, the two males. Swans do not get along with other swans. The black [00:27:00] Australians will communal breed sometimes, sometimes not. Just depends on the swans. And so will the black necks. But mutes and trumpeters and whoopers definitely will not tolerate another pair of swans on their pond, unless, I would say a minimum of 15 or 20 acres, and that’s a huge pond. And there might be enough room for two pair.
So that’s the biggest thing to consider. If I can’t have more than one pair of swans on my pond, it’s going to be kind of hard to make any money. Because first, if I buy them at six months, I got to wait two, three years before I even get any cygnets. And still, there’s no guarantee that they’re going to be fertile. The male could be shooting blanks, so to speak, or the female may have something wrong and you won’t know that until five, six years into it.
And now you’re still laying dud eggs. So now you’ve just wasted five or six years. And what I have is on my pond is I’ve got [00:28:00] about a three acre pond. But I’ve got a couple of fences set up across it to keep my swans separated. So here on my place I’ve got actually, I dug another pond last year, a smaller pond, just for the reason I needed more space that I only keep four or five, maybe six breeder pairs on my property.
Cause that’s the only way I can, I can raise them correctly and keep them out on the water in the winter. I run six aerators. And that’s not cheap, but I got to keep that open water and I got to keep them out on the water. And my other swans, what I’ll do is I, somebody that’s close to me, I’ll make an agreement with them; here, here’s a pair of swans, you feed them, properly take care of them, and I get all the cygnets. And they’re still my swans, but now they’re on your pond. They’re happy. They don’t have to fight with anybody else. And [00:29:00] that’s the only way I found that if you’re serious and, and this is something you want to do and keep them in their natural environment, you almost have to have your swans on other ponds. They can be pretty vicious if they get in in another’s pen or somewhere.
Some people will just put them on land and fence them in. That’s kind of the easy way of doing it, but I don’t feel it’s the right way to do it. It can take a good 5 years before you even realize any kind of a profit between the cost of the swans. And I’ve got 6 foot chain link fence all the way around to one side. I’ve got buildings, pools, I’ve got pumps, I’ve got a grass seed costs. It’s just, you know, there’s always something. Electric fence that I put up. There’s always some kind of an expense there. And I don’t rely on it for my primary income. I’m retiring at the end of this year, so it’s a more of a hobby for [00:30:00] myself. If somebody’s thinking about getting into it to strictly make money, it’s going to take a while and it’s not as easy as it looks, I guess is the best way to put it.
Kenny Coogan: And they better appreciate the birds first.
Chris Fritzen: Yes. To me is, is again, number one, and I think that’s why I have such repeat customers and, and so forth is because I will take an hour or two to talk to people on the phone. When I said $1500 or $5, 000, that’s for a pair. Yeah. Yeah. And the trumpeters are more expensive because of the licensing, and some of it’s just supply and demand. And like you say, a lot of these bigger places are out of stock. You can find people that just have one pair and they got six cygnets that they’re just an individual and they don’t know what to do with the cygnets they have. But most of them, I have a lady down in Southern Illinois that she’s got seven of them, and they aren’t sexed and they’re three week old mutes.[00:31:00]
And it’s like not knowing what sex they are being a straight run, somebody could buy them not knowing and end up with two males, and they want cygnets, or two females or whatever. They don’t know. So I told her the best thing you can do is do the DNA sexing. And then, then I think she was asking $300 each for them, which at that age is still a little bit too much, but being unsexed, she’s going to have a hard time selling them. But if people are looking for that kind of thing and really no guarantees if they’re pinioned or sexed. And auctions are a big place you’ll find a lot of swans at exotic auctions, and if somebody’s selling their swans at an auction, yeah, that’s something just to kind of look out for because most reputable breeders don’t need to sell their swans at an auction.
[00:31:53] Raising Swans Communally
Kenny Coogan: So let’s talk a little bit about the black swans and the Australian swans, because I think sometimes [00:32:00] people want to have a flock of beautiful swans. And you mentioned they might be able to do some communal breeding. So I’m assuming they can live communally. Would you acquire a dozen -if you’re rich-, six month old cygnets? Or would you be able to just have two and then add two more?
Chris Fritzen: It would be hard to add two more. Your best chance would be to get six month olds that have grown up together. And if you keep them together, they would most likely be okay. Again, there’s no guarantees. Cause again, they’re all individuals, but that would be your best chance of of them all getting along and being able to nest together in a smaller area because they’re used to each other.
And they, they, again, they grown up with each other. I’ve taken three month old cygnets, mute cygnets, and put them in with three months old black cygnets, and somebody has got to be the [00:33:00] boss. And they start pecking at each other and grabbing each other’s necks and just can be cruel. And it’s like, guys, these are your cousins, you know, can’t you just get along?
It gets frustrating. Cause it’s like, let’s all just get along. Okay, come on. These guys aren’t going to hurt you any, but again, it’s, it’s just the way the birds are. It’s in that natural thing for them. So if they wanted, if they don’t have a huge pond, definitely more than one pair of a whooper, trumpeter, or swan, it just doesn’t work. They will regret it when they reach breeding age.
Kenny Coogan: Chris, do you wanna leave us with some words of wisdom rather than all the swans are gonna hate each other if you have more than two?
Chris Fritzen: Yeah. You know, it either, either people get it or they don’t. My biggest question that friends or whatever: what do people do with swans?
And I said, they just enjoy them. Oh, [00:34:00] okay. Enjoy them. What’s to enjoy? But then the people who love them really get it. They can sit on their front porch. They can talk to them. Especially trumpeters are noisy. They will honk all night when something’s bothering them. And it’s a relationship. And so will black Australians. To me, the black Australians have the best personality. They are talkers and they’ll come up to you and just start squeaking away and talking to you and you talk back to them. You just have to love them and to be able to enjoy them. And, and again, just be responsible by pinioning and, and getting them out in water. God put them on earth to be in water, not on land. That’s my number one thing is got to have a pond or a big pool, real big pool. And having a pool is, is troublesome because [00:35:00] two swans and a 600 gallon, 800 gallon pool every week, you’re going to be emptying that water and cleaning all the excrement off the bottom because they’ll make a mess. They just do, and that’s a lot of work in itself too.
Kenny Coogan: Thank you so much, Chris, for our conversation today to talk about raising swans. I really appreciate it.
Chris Fritzen: Well, Kenny, I appreciate you contacting me. I love talking swans.
Jessica Anderson: Thanks for joining us for this episode of Mother Earth News and Friends. To listen to more podcasts and get connected on our social media, visit www.MotherEarthNews.com/Podcast. You can also email us at Podcast@OgdenPubs.Com with any questions or suggestions.
Our podcast production team includes Jessica Anderson, Kenny Coogan, and Alyssa Warner.
Music for this episode is “Hustle” by Kevin MacLeod.
The Mother Earth News and Friends podcast is a production of Ogden Publications.
[00:35:59] Brinsea Post-Roll Ad
Jessica Anderson: [00:36:00] Thanks again to Brinsea, our sponsor for this Mother Earth News and Friends podcast episode. You too can experience the Brinsea difference and maximize your hatch rates with Brinsea incubators that monitor temperature and humidity and are made of antimicrobial materials.
Brinsea ships worldwide and provides stellar customer support to answer all your questions. Hatch your chicks with Brinsea, the leader in innovative incubation research. Learn more at Brinsea.com. Again, that’s www.Brinsea.com
Until next time, don’t forget to love your Mother.
Additional Resources
Thanks to Brinsea, the chick incubation specialists, for sponsoring this episode!
Learn more about Grand Swan Farm
Our Podcast Team:
Jessica Anderson, Kenny Coogan, and Alyssa Warner
Music: “Hustle” by Kevin MacLeod
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The Mother Earth News and Friends podcasts are a production of Ogden Publications.
Ogden Publications strives to inspire “can-do communities,” which may have different locations, backgrounds, beliefs, and ideals. The viewpoints and lifestyles expressed within Ogden Publications articles are not necessarily shared by the editorial staff or policies but represent the authors’ unique experiences.
