Chokecherries and ducks and geese

Chokecherries are toxic to most mammals..the pit contains arsenic although the flesh is very tasty. They even sell pints of chokecherry juice now in my neighborhood..but I'm wondering about a passive feeding arrangement for geese and ducks..anybody have any experience feeding geese and ducks chokecherries? Toxic or no? BTW anybody have other suggestions for shrub sized quick growers for such an arrangement? Hackberries? Mulberries¢? Shredded honey locust pods? How about acorns? Many thanks...

Hmmm, I wish I knew about the choke cherries! I do know that my ducks like eating blackberries and other cane-type berries (like raspberries), as well as strawberries (they eat the berries but not the plant).

I've heard of people planting mulberries for their ducks/chickens, and it being a good source of protein, and it has berries for a long time. Mine still haven't started producing (I think it's something with my soil, since they had berries when I bought them three years ago...)

You could also try planting some buckwheat or other grains, as they really like eating the seeds when they ripen, and if you're lucky, they might reseed, too. My ducks refuse to eat any brassica leaves (kale, broccoli, wild mustard, radish), though they do munch on them a bit when they go to seed or have gone through a frost.

Hi! I was wondering if you found any info regarding ducks and choke cherries? I know the pits contain cyanide. Over 60 species of bird can eat them safely. Chickens instinctively know to avoid the pit and eat the flesh only, but NOT my choke cherry crazed ducks!
They are much more capable of swallowing a mouthful whole & since they’ve discovered the beautifully enticing and overly abundant shrubs full.... well let’s just say, They Live For That Sheeit! I can’t put fence up in the forest they have free range in. I won’t lock them in the barn all season. I refuse to let them commit suicide because,even w a degree in Zoology,  can’t find a solid answer or solution.
I realize your post is from 2018. I was wondering if you were able to discover any info since then? Thank you!

I found a ‘blog Laid back gardener that suggests although the pits are poisonous to mammals they are harmless to birds.  Any toxin is destroyed by cooking. Hope this helps, but do your own confirmation of this.

Looking online, I found this wildlife sanctuary website stating that the cyanide is toxic to ducks.

This article states that "cyanide bombs" killed ducks. The cyanide bombs are filled with sodium cyanide.

This article published by the University of Nevada shows ducks being given with low-dose potassium cyanide. This dose was "well below those generally accepted by the wildlife regulatory agencies as “safe” for migratory birds (50 mg/L)" It goes on to note a whole lot of bad--but not lethal--things happening to the ducks, and concluded

These results show that while these cyanide dosages were not acutely lethal to the birds, they did cause considerable biological damage which
would significantly impact the viability of these birds

Note, the potassium cyanide was given in water solution via gavage--they forced the liquid down the ducks throats. I'm thinking they had to do this because ducks will naturally stop drinking something poisonous.

I have a feeling that ducks--as long as they have enough other food--will not eat too much of a food that could kill them. But, if you don't feed them enough, they might resort to eating it (when I first got ducks, I didn't realize that I was underfeeding them, and mine were eating potato plants. In the past 6+ years that I've been feeding them enough, I have never seen them eat a potato plant.).

It'd be interesting to find out the concentration--and form--of cyanide in chokecherries...and how much actually gets absorbed by the ducks body when they digest it. According to Ohio State University, the form of cyanide is hydrocyanic acid (that's what occurs in the stomach), but I can't find what concentration....and my brain's a bit too tired to try to combine that info with the study about the ducks force-fed potassium cyanide water.

Nancy Reading wrote:I found a ‘blog Laid back gardener that suggests although the pits are poisonous to mammals they are harmless to birds.  Any toxin is destroyed by cooking. Hope this helps, but do your own confirmation of this.

Hmmm, I wonder if this is because little flying birds have tiny gizzards and so don't "chew" up the seeds as much larger birds like ducks and chickens?

From Bird Watching Daily

Hydrogen cyanide can be formed and released from the seeds when they are chewed or damaged. The amounts of amygdalin in the seeds of most fruits is small, and many seeds would need to be chewed and eaten by a human to cause harm. Although obviously much smaller, birds that eat hawthorn and crabapple fruits swallow them whole, and the seeds pass through the birds’ digestive systems intact, with little or no opportunity for hydrogen cyanide to be released.

And from All About Birds

All birds do have a gizzard, but those species that eat very easily digested foods such as soft-bodied insects, soft fruits, or nectar may have a very small and thin-walled gizzard.

So, a little bird probably doesn't crush the seed/pit and release the cyanide to have it turn into hydrocyanic acid, but a duck or chicken probably does?