Connecticut Will Seek to Slow Swan Breeding

State biologists next spring will seek out nesting mute swans to shake their eggs in an effort to curb their numbers, officials said.

The shaking, known as addling, prevents the eggs from hatching. It is best to addle the eggs and place them back in the nest because if they are removed the female would lay more eggs, biologists say.

Officials want to reduce the mute swan population in Connecticut from about 1,300 birds to 440 over the next 10 years, said Timothy R. E. Keeney, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. The swans displace native wildlife and deplete the aquatic vegetation that is habitat and food for other waterfowl, he said.