I have never tried cuttings but am told that it works. I have also never planted seeds. There may be some truth that the seeds need to pass through a digestive tract. There are thousands of seeds laying on the ground in the guinea run but hey are from olives that dropped and rotted on the ground. Where the birds crapped out the seeds, there are seedlings sprouting all over the place.That's pretty neat. Do they propagate well from cuttings or do most folks just plant the seeds?
It is my belief that the seeds don't get to pass through the digestive tracts of chickens and turkeys and get thoroughly ground up in their gizzards. I base this belief on the fact that I have two Russian Olive trees in my turkey/chicken run, the chickens and turkeys clean up all of the olives and there are no Russian Olive seedlings in that run.