Honey for peafowl

[Maron]

Hi
it's winter and I would like to strengthen the peacock's immunity. Could I add some honey to the water? At the moment I only give vitamins for birds.

 

[nuthatched]

Honey only builds immunity if it's raw, but I don't think it would hurt them.
@casportpony what say ye?

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Honey at the store is cut with 49% Corn Syrup, it may or may not be raw and should be labeled as such.
Honey from a beekeeper or farmer's market "could" be raw (and not pasteurized) and doesn't have corn syrup added.
"Filtered" means pressurized industrial filtration, which filters out all pollens and good stuff.
If it's your honey, from your hives, and you've only done some basic soft filtering - then sure it will help them out possibly. If its store bought just forget it, there's nothing good left in it.

 

[KsKingBee]

Know your beekeeper, ask them if their honey is ever heated. Most of us will heat up to about 120* to make it thin enough to strain and bottle, over 120* you risk killing the good enzymes that give honey a health benefit. Big operations that sell lots of honey to stores do not want the honey to crystalize on the shelf so they heat the honey to 160* to 180* so they can push the honey through fine microfilters that remove the pollens and small sugar crystals that cause crystallization.

I think a better way to give raw honey to your birds would be to thin the honey with water and spray it as a top dressing to their regular feed. Remember that if some is good, more is not necessarily better.

 

[Midnightman14]

You can give some if you want but usually I save honey for sick or injured birds.