Natural affinity for blackberry bushes

[newbyduckmom]

I have come to the conclusion that our ducks have a natural affinity for black berry bushes. Not a good thing, since an incident with a blackberry is what started our recent romp with bumblefoot. We have blackberries everywhere on our 5 acres. The ducks just seem to naturally gravitate towards them - oblivious to stickers and getting caught on them. I chase them to other parts of the yard and they find another patch. About to resort to not letting them free range any longer as it is the only way to protect them from themselves. I assuming there must be good bugs, slugs, grubs under the stickery bushes (particularly in winter when they are not finding much elsewhere) that keep them going back. They seem oblivious to the fact that they keep getting hung up on the stickers. They are so good at avoiding other things they are leery about (food), but clueless about blackberries. Anyone have a similar experience?

 

[m.kitchengirl]

My ducks love our raspeberry & blackberry bushes. Luckily we have a tree that puts out these sort of olive looking things & they spend the better part of their day (even now) eating the fruits that still hang on the tree & the fallen ones, too. They have a lot of easy access to the raspberries, but not as much to our blackberries, so I haven't had any trouble.
For my raspberries sake I am moving the ducks to a large, enclosed yard this spring. (Also because the next door neighbor is moving & while he doesn't mind the duck sounds I am running on the assumption the next owner will be less understanding & moving them before the house sells to avoid problems before they start. The new location is far from all the neighbors, but still close to my house.)