And they grow where in December, at six months of age, all are over 20 pounds and hard to distinguish from the parents. Note the orange bill on the two parents. At this age, the parents begin to distance themselves, first by chasing away the cygnets at feeding time. Soon, the male cygnets are kept out of the family circle followed in a few weeks by the females. In January, the distancing becomes downright hostile and any cygnets in the territory will be attacked and chased out.
