Can Budgies Eat Apples? All You Need To Know

So you’re thinking about whether to give your little cute budgies apples or not? Wondering whether giving them the fruit with the seeds and skin may harm their health? If that’s you, this guide will answer all your questions.

Can budgies eat apples? Yes, budgies can eat apples. Apples are safe for budgies to eat and contain essential vitamins and minerals that help these birds maintain healthy bodies. However, you must remove all the seeds before giving the fruit to your pet bird. You also need to limit the quantity you feed your budgies to avoid harming their health and wellbeing.

Below, we have discussed everything you need to know about feeding apples to your budgies, including tips for preparing them correctly, what to do if your budgie doesn’t like apples, how much apple to give them, and more!

Can you feed Budgies to Apples?

Absolutely! Apples are 100% safe to feed your budgies. They’re also healthy and offer your beloved bird pet nutrients that keep their body healthy.

A fresh apple treat will give your bird useful nutrients like fiber, enabling the budgie’s belly to easily process it. It also carries vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, and antioxidants—all of which are beneficial for your budgie’s body health.

As you already know, there are many apple varieties, the most common ones being the delicious red and the green apples. Some of these varieties are sweeter while others are tart. Some are juicier, while others have a firmer consistency. You can feed any of these varieties to your budgies.

As long as you feed the fruit to your pets moderately, the sugar it contains isn’t harmful to them. The fruit will make a good alternative to pellets, nuts, and seeds as you try to give your bird pet a balanced diet.

Even when your budgies seem to have a sweet tooth, we advise you against attempting to feed him more apples than necessary (more details on how many apples to give your budgie coming up).

When feeding apples to your budgies, you also want to prepare them correctly and slice them into small chunks. This makes it easy for the budgies to eat.

The apple’s skin is safe to feed your budgies and is packed with nutrients. However, you should remove the core with all the seeds as they can become toxic to the birds.

Do Budgies Like Apples

Apples are sweet, and delicious fruits and budgies definitely like them. However, not all budgies are fond of apples. And this explains why some pet owners are worried that they can’t get their budgies to eat apples.

But this is normal and nothing to worry about. Sometimes your budgie may not like the apple the first time you give it to her.

Just go slowly introducing the new fruit to the bird instead of forcing the apple through its beak. Leave the apple in the cage and let the bird eat it at its own pace. After a few days of trying, they might start eating the apple.

If the budgie seems scared by the apple you put in its cage, just get it out and try introducing it the next day and see if it eats it. You may also try leaving the fruit outside the cage where they feel more confident and let them decide whether they want it or not.

If you had given the bird a big piece of apple, you can try cutting it into smaller pieces and see if your feathered friend will eat them.

Some folks also use the trick of sprinkling seeds the budgies eat all over the apple, making the bird eat the apple.

You can also try eating the apple in front of your parakeet to see if it will want to eat it. The bird might fly from its cage and start pecking on your apple.

All in all, it’s not a bad thing when your budgie refuses to eat an apple. There are a variety of fruits that are safe for your budgies and will make good alternatives to the apples.

Health Benefits For Budgies Eating Apples

We said earlier in this article that apple packs plenty of helpful nutrients for your budgies. In this part, we get into details about the various nutrients this fruit offers and how it benefits your beloved pet bird’s body.

Minerals

The fruit contains essential minerals such as manganese, calcium, and phosphorous. It also includes zinc and iron in smaller quantities. Calcium is a good mineral that promotes strong and healthy bones in your budgie.

Vitamins

Apple contains high Vitamin A quantities, which helps keep your bird pet’s respiratory system healthy. Besides, it also contains smaller amounts of vitamin C, E, and K. It contains various B-vitamins, like thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, etc., all of which help a sick budgie recover quickly from illnesses.

Other helpful nutrients in an apple include proteins (provide energy), carbohydrates, and fiber (boost digestive function and prevent constipation). The fruit also contains small quantities of antioxidants and helps keep your beloved budgie’s cells healthy.

How many apples should budgies eat?

Giving your budgies apples without limit can be tempting if they seem to like them a lot. But this is an unwise idea since the fruit has high sugar levels, which isn’t safe for their health.

That said, we recommend giving your adult budgie just a few apple slices once a week. In simpler words, make apple an occasional treat for your budgies.

So, what are the risks of feeding too much apple to your budgie? It will simply unbalance their diet as well as their tummy. Depending on the sweetness of the apple variety, it can easily upset the bird’s stomach, resulting in watery droppings. These aren’t fun and can easily dehydrate your budgie!

As you continue feeding the apple to your budgie, make sure you monitor its stool. If it appears different from what you’re used to, you may want to change the apple brand/variety to see if it helps. You can also try introducing fiber to the bird’s diet. Reducing the amount of water your budgies take may also help.

Not just apples… Generally, you should refrain from overfeeding fruits to your budgies. These types of food varieties contain higher fructose (natural sugars) than fresh vegetables, making them unhealthy to feed your budgie in high quantities.

How do you prepare Apples for budgies?

The best way to ensure you give apples to your budgies without harming them is knowing how to prepare the fruits correctly. Assuming you’re offering your budgies fresh apples, this is the simple procedure for preparing them:

Step 1. Wash the apple thoroughly: Scrub the apple skin to help remove those pesticides and other toxic substances it might have been sprayed with during growth. Some pet owners recommend removing the skin. But as long as you clean it well, it’s safe for your budgie to consume.

Step 2. Remove the seeds: get rid of all the fruit seeds, including the seed fragments or the core, before serving the fruit to your bird. If you own an apple corer, it will make it much easier for you to remove the core of an apple.

Step 3. Cut the fruit into small sizes: With the fruit completely deseeded, you can now cut it into smaller sizes to make it easier for your budgie’s small beak to handle. Simply make small apple wedges or slices, and your bird pet will thank you!

Budgies love warm fruit as it probably reminds them of eating the food warmed by the hot summer sun while in the wild. Thus, throwing the slices or chunks of the fruit in the microwave for a few seconds is a good idea.

It is also safe to feed your budgies dried or cooked apple (just don’t add any syrup or sweetener).

Budgies sometimes like to dip apples in water before eating them. You can make this convincing for your budgie by placing their apple serving next to their fresh water dish.

After around 2 hours, your budgie should be done eating the apple. You can now clean up the leftovers and get rid of them. Be sure to neaten up their cage as well.

Can you feed Apples to baby budgies?

Yes, you can also feed apples to baby budgies. But in this case, you need to consider giving them softer apples so they can bite easily.

You also want to follow the procedure outlined above for preparing the apples. Rinse them thoroughly, deseed them, and cut them into tiny pieces before giving them to the young budgies.