Honey is delicious, its liquid gold but can parrots eat honey?
Parrots shouldn’t really be eating honey. Honey can contain spores which can grow toxin-producing bacteria cells. The toxins produced by these bacteria cells can cause paralysis in parrots. It can also result in your bird losing the ability to fly. If you want to give them something sweet give them fruits in moderation.
If you own a pet bird like a parrot you need to know what to feed it to avoid them developing an illness because of an incomplete or an imbalanced diet.
Many sicknesses can be traced back to poor nutrition both in humans and in animals. You will enjoy your parrot more if it is healthy and strong and it will love you more as well.
Over the years we’ve learnt how to keep our parrots health in check. We’ve learnt what to feed them, what not to feed them and what to feed them occasionally.
You don’t have to feed them exactly what they would eat in the wild but giving them enough nutrients and minerals is a must. So can parrots eat honey?
Table of Contents
Nutrients in honey
Honey is called liquid gold for a reason. Humans use it in a variety of foods and eat it on its own as well. Honey contains sugars including fructose, sucrose, maltose and glucose. It does not contain high amounts of proteins, fats or fibre.
Honey contains very small amounts (under 1 percent) of vitamins and minerals. Honey contains, and is loved for, its high levels of antioxidants and bioactive plant compounds.
Can parrots eat honey?
It depends on what type of honey you use. People like to eat raw honey because most of the beneficial nutrients are kept in the bottle. Regular pasteurised honey is processed. Raw honey is not good for parrots. The raw variety contains Botulism spores.
Botulism spores are harmless when they are in the resting stage. In the correct environment, they grow toxin-producing bacteria cells. These toxins can result in paralysis of your parrot. This can also make your bird unable to fly. In addition, your parrot will start to drag its wings as it moves, it will also develop poor posture.
The honey, regardless of the quality and regardless of if its organic or non-organic state can sill grow mould. Mould is fatal to your parrot. The bird does not necessarily have to eat the mould to be in danger, the bird can inhale the mould and get sick
What can parrots eat?
Parrots can eat a variety of foods including seeds, fruits, vegetates and formulated diets:
Seeds:
You shouldn’t give your parrot seeds only, the seeds alone will not give the bird enough vitamins. Seeds are high in fat which is not always the best for your parrots. To maintain a balanced diet make sure that the seeds are only 10 percent of the bird’s diet.
Pellets:
These are a combination of a variety of foods. Pellets are convenient because you don’t have to give your bird many different foods individually. They were developed to ensure your birds get a varied diet.
Pellets are a combination of fruits, vegetables, grains, seeds, vitamins, and minerals, all these are baked into a pellet. Pellets are an easy way to get your bird to eat all its nutrients.
If your parrot is a picky eater or doesn’t like the pellets you can add some nut butter to the pellets. This will make the pellets more attractive to the birds because of the fats and protein in the butter.
Vegetables:
This is a great way to add some variety into your bird’s diet. Some delicious and nutritious vegetables to give your parrots will be dark yellow and leafy green vegetables.
Give vegetables to your bird in different ways to see how it likes them. Give your bird cooked, chopped, whole and slightly warm vegetables. You can give them vegetables such as green beans, parsley, eggplant, carrots, cauliflower and swiss chard no name a new. Broccoli is good for parrots, read more here.
Fruits:
This is an excellent way to give your parrots a sweet treat. Parrots will love most of the fruit you give them but remember that you shouldn’t give them too much. Give them small portions so you don’t overdo it.
If you can, give your parrot tropical fruits that are indigenous to their native environments. Give them fruits like pineapple, berries, kiwi, mango, bananas, apricots and peaches. Remember to remove the seeds as these are toxic to the bird. Cranberries are good for birds, read more here.
Other foods:
Other foods that are good for birds include pasta, oats, rice, quinoa, barley. These are very nutritious grains that birds will enjoy. If you can, give them a little whole wheat bread as well as unsweetened cereals. You can even cook and serve some legumes, beans and peas to your parrots. You can also feed them potatoes and pine nuts, click the links to read more.
What can’t parrots eat.
Rhubarb: Whether raw or cooked rhubarb is not a good food to give to your parrots. The leaves especially, contain very high levels of oxalic acid. This is toxic to birds.
Cheese: Birds do like to eat cheese but unfortunately like many humans, they are lactose intolerant. Do not give birds cheese on a regular basis occasionally cheese can be ok.
Dried fruits: While fresh fruit is a great way to give your birds a yummy treat dried fruits isn’t the best food to give to your birds. Sulphur dioxide is used to preserve dried fruits. Birds react badly to sulphur dioxide
Tip: Avoid giving birds foods such as alcohol, salt and beverages that contain caffeine. Don’t feed them ice cream, french fries, baking soda or dog food. Click the links to read more
Can parrots eat Honey Nut Cheerios?
Parrots may love cereals but the only cereals you should be giving your birds are the unsweetened variety. Honey nut cheerios are not a good food to give to your parrots.
Your birds may enjoy Honey Nut Cheerios but the amount of sugar in the cereal is way too high for the bird’s small body. If you want to give them some cereal then give them plain cheerio’s.
Can parrots eat bread?
Bread is not a bad thing for a parrot to eat but it definitely shouldn’t be one of the main foods that you give to your parrots. Bread is a very filling food, for humans and for birds. Unfortunately, it is not very nutrient-rich, if your bird fills up on bread and becomes too full to eat anything else then it will be lacking in nutrients.
Conclusion:
Some parrots enjoy honey, it’s a sweet and delicious food for them but you shouldn’t give parrots honey, especially raw honey.
Honey can contain spores which can grow toxin-producing bacteria cells. The toxins can cause paralysis of your parrot. In addition, the honey can grow mould, if the bird eats or inhales this it can die.
If you want to give your bird something sweet you can give it fresh fruits in moderation. Make sure you give the bird a balanced diet so it stays healthy and is not nutritionally imbalanced.
Give the bird vegetables, grains, seeds and pellets as base food. Pellets contain a combination of the best foods for parrots. Don’t give them honey nut cheerio’s and give them minimal bread.