Crab apples?

[Ratchnick]

Lots of variables, here is the key takeaway.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source, 1–2 mg/kg is a fatal oral dose of cyanide for a 154 lbs. (70 kg) man. Most apple cores contain around 5 apple seeds. However, this amount will vary based on the health of the plant. You would need to finely chew and eat about 200 apple seeds, or about 40 apple cores, to receive a fatal dose.


So if 40 cores will kill a 150 lb person how many to harm a 10 lb duck? Can't really say.

 

[416bigbore]

We have Grey Squirrels in our yard that act that very same way. I just thought it was from all the corn they steal from the ducks and can't make it back up the tree! Those silly Squirrels.

 

[Isaac 0]

Lots of variables, here is the key takeaway.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Trusted Source, 1–2 mg/kg is a fatal oral dose of cyanide for a 154 lbs. (70 kg) man. Most apple cores contain around 5 apple seeds. However, this amount will vary based on the health of the plant. You would need to finely chew and eat about 200 apple seeds, or about 40 apple cores, to receive a fatal dose.


So if 40 cores will kill a 150 lb person how many to harm a 10 lb duck? Can't really say.

We are not talking about humans here, we're talking about the toxicity risk with birds, comparing the toxicity risks of those two "species" is plain nonsense. From what I gather, we are talking about Crab Apple, the tree that produces the small fruits, not the tree that produces large apples that you find in the store. Correct me if wrong.

The seed is what is toxic, we both know that. Crabapple, seeds are quite hard in nature, therefore, most of the time they pass through the bird's digestive tract without being absorbed at all, really that's how these trees spread in the first place. Many trees, have actually evolved to have a hard seed coat so they could be spread by the birds.

So, tell me how there might be a fatal reaction if a 150lb person, eats 40 apple cores. But, a 0.17 pound Robin can basically strip a tree of Crab Apples, and have no adverse reaction?

 

[Ratchnick]

Yeah, lots of variables, its just not clear. If you eat corn and take a look at you turd in the morning your going to see corn. Apple seeds come out whole as well. If you feed ducks whole corn does it come back out? I have not done this but I'm pretty sure not. But this causes me to question if the seeds will pass through a duck. I have never seen anything pass through my ducks gut intact.

If the seeds are digested then you have to take into account that since crab apples are so small the ratio of seed to fruit is very high compared to normal sized apples. Lots of people have their chickens in their orchard gorging on apples. Even If the chickens target the seeds as a delicacy they would have to fill up on much more flesh reducing. their seed intake.

Certainly it won't hurt the ducks to scrounge a few apples but that tree in the picture is massive. All the crab apples here produce huge amounts of fruit. If The ducks are gorging on fruit all day in the fall it still seems unclear to me at least what the results could be.


Because one link deserves another.
https://peteducate.com/can-chickens-eat-apples/

 

[Isaac 0]

Yeah, lots of variables, its just not clear. If you eat corn and take a look at you turd in the morning your going to see corn. Apple seeds come out whole as well. If you feed ducks whole corn does it come back out? I have not done this but I'm pretty sure not. But this causes me to question if the seeds will pass through a duck. I have never seen anything pass through my ducks gut intact.

If the seeds are digested then you have to take into account that since crab apples are so small the ratio of seed to fruit is very high compared to normal sized apples. Lots of people have their chickens in their orchard gorging on apples. Even If the chickens target the seeds as a delicacy they would have to fill up on much more flesh reducing. their seed intake.

Certainly it won't hurt the ducks to scrounge a few apples but that tree in the picture is massive. All the crab apples here produce huge amounts of fruit. If The ducks are gorging on fruit all day in the fall it still seems unclear to me at least what the results could be.


Because one link deserves another.
https://peteducate.com/can-chickens-eat-apples/

The question if apple seeds are toxic to birds has been widely discussed and asked on this site, so instead of looking at one link of how they are, I prefer to take into account the hundreds/thousands of people have kept their poultry within the quarters of an Apple Tree (Crab or not) and they have not had any problems, I actually have a Crab in my yard, the chickens frequently eat the fruits, I have never seen any problems. This seems to be the same story with many others. The "toxic lists" out there for birds are over-exaggerated and contain many falsities. Anymore comments you have, would be best given via a PM.

 

[Ratchnick]

Your right about ppl overexagerating toxicity. My ducks ate a rhubarb leaf and a poinsettia and were fine.