Celery is a favorite vegetable for humans. But Budgies also need vegetables in their diet. If you own budgies, you may be wondering if you can share this vegetable with them. Or is celery toxic to your budgies?
Can budgies eat celery? Yes, budgies can eat celery as it’s a non-toxic vegetable. However, you should give it to your budgies occasionally since it is mainly composed of water and contains not so many vitamins and minerals, making it a less healthy vegetable option.
Read the following guide to discover more details on whether you should give budgies celery, how much to feed them, how to feed it to them, the downsides of feeding budgies celery, and so on.
Can you feed celery to budgies?
Yes, you can feed celerity to budgies. This vegetable isn’t toxic and contains no harmful substances that can endanger the health of your budgies. So if you love celery, you’ll be happy to know that you can safely share it with your budgie.
However, we don’t recommend giving this vegetable to your budgies since it’s mainly composed of water and contains fewer nutrients compared to those nutrition-dense vegetables like spinach, carrots, broccoli, tomato, kale, pak choi, cauliflower, pumpkin, leafy vegetables, etc.
But don’t get it twisted; celery still has some vitamins to offer your budgies in small quantities. It is one of the foods mainly made up of water, placing it in the same category as lettuce (to be specific, it contains 95% water).
While water is essential for proper hydration of your budgies—especially in the hot summer months—too much of it isn’t healthy for your budgies.
If you must give celery to your budgies, make sure you do it occasionally. Don’t make it a regular part of their diet.
Otherwise, feeding them celery in large portions or regularly will lower the number of nutrients the budgie receives. It will also increase the chances of crop compaction and cause your budgie to produce runny droppings.
In other words, you’ll be exposing your little featured friends to various downsides of celery that directly affect their health and wellbeing.
The most important thing to remember is that you must feed your budgie a wide variety of veggies and fresh fruits to keep them happy and healthy. And these should be packed with minerals and vitamins (not high water content).
Do Budgies Like celery?
Budgies like celery. They enjoy the crunchy texture of this vegetable. They’ll also feel good taking celery when the weather is hot and need to hydrate their bodies, making them feel cool and happy.
The video below showing budgies fighting over celery proves that these little guys like eating celery.
However, your budgie may not show interest in celery, and that’s perfectly okay. The birds have their preferred food types, just like we have preferences when it comes to human food.
So if you see that your budgie doesn’t like celery, you don’t need to force them to take it. After all, it’s not the healthiest veggie available and is mainly made up of water.
You can try other veggies for your budgie, such as kale, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, etc. These are great alternatives since they contain more nutrients than celery, and your budgie may like them even more than celery.
Health benefits for budgies eating celery
Despite being a not-so-good food option for your budgies, celery still offers them some nutrients that have health benefits. This is the list of nutrients your budgies can obtain from celery:
Vitamin A
Celery packs Vitamin A, which benefits the health of your budgie’s feathers. This vitamin is what gives your budgies such a bright coloration. Besides, this nutrient is essential for healthy digestion and helping birds resist parasites and infections.
Vitamin C
This vitamin is vital for improving your feathered friend’s immune system and helping fight against various diseases and illnesses. Some reports also suggest that this vitamin may prevent self-destructive behavior in your budgie.
Vitamin K
This vitamin is present in celery in small amounts. It promotes blood clotting, helping prevent excessive bleeding in case your budgie suffers from a cut or a wound.
Folate
This nutrient is essentially the natural form of vitamin B9. It is essential for various purposes running from metabolism to cell growth. Deficiency of this nutrient can result in stunted growth in your little pet birds and even cause anemia.
Potassium
With the potassium nutrient in celery, you can rest assured that muscle contractions, electrolyte balance, and never signals are all working correctly. However, remember that this nutrient needs to be carefully balanced with calcium, especially when you’re feeding your birds various fruits and veggies.
Hydration
The best part about celery to your budgies is that it is a good water source to keep them hydrated. This makes it a great treat to feed them in summer’s hot and dry months.
Since budgies aren’t fond of drinking fresh water, giving them celery will trick them into consuming this clean water and keeping them hydrated. Make sure you don’t give them too much of it so they don’t start dropping watery poops.
Risks for budgies eating celery
Celery comprises 95% water and is low on nutrients. This means feeding your budgies celery is simply hydrating them without giving them too many nutrients.
While water isn’t bad for budgies, you should mainly focus on feeding your budgies with nutrient-rich foods, and celery is clearly not one of these types of foods.
Giving too much celery to your budgies results in overhydrating them. And this can cause digestive upset and diarrhea in your feathered friends.
What’s more, the strings in celery are also hazardous for your budgies. They can cause crop impaction, where your budgie’s digestive system becomes backed up. This is because the celery strings aren’t easily digestible in the budge’s body.
Common symptoms of this crop impaction include vomiting, loss of appetite, dehydration, depression, agitation, lethargy, and inactivity. Note that you should get an avian vet to treat this condition immediately as it doesn’t go away on its own!
Though this veggie is 100%b safe and non-toxic for your budgies, we advise you to avoid feeding it to them. But if you must give them, be sure to do it as occasional treats to prevent hurting your pet birds’ health.
How much celery should budgies eat?
We have repeatedly said that too much celery isn’t safe for your budgies. But how do you know how much celery to give your budgies? We advise you to provide them with about 2-3 cm of a celery stick and only do it occasionally, say 1-2 times a week.
This is enough treat to ensure your birdies enjoy this vegetable’s health benefits without experiencing any side effects it comes with.
Overfeeding them snack also means wasting space in your budgie’s stomach for healthier bird foods like pellets which should cover the biggest part of their daily diet.
How do you prepare celery for budgies?
You first wash the vegetable thoroughly and then rinse it to remove undesired substances that may harm your budgie.
Next, you need to de-leaf and de-seed the vegetable using a knife. While these parts aren’t considered toxic for budgies, we suggest removing them since they carry pesticides and harmful chemicals for budgies (unless you’re using organic celery).
Cut the celery stalk into pieces as long as 2-3cm. These are much easier for your budgie to feed and don’t represent a digestive problem for the birds. Though budgies can take on the celery stick as it is, cutting it into pieces makes it easier for them to eat.
Finally, put the celery in the cage for your bird to feed on its own. Or you can hand-feed it if you want to spend time socializing and bonding with it.
Can you feed celery to baby budgies?
Celery is safe to feed baby budgies, but we don’t recommend giving the veggie to them. As we’ve repeated countless times, this vegetable is mostly made up of water. It contains no significant amount of essential vitamins and minerals. This makes it a less healthy option.
Nonetheless, your baby budgie will still need a balanced diet that comprises varied fruits and veggies, and looking for alternative vegetables that are high in nutrients is highly recommended.
If you still want to go ahead and feed baby budgie with celery, make sure you prepare it correctly by first washing it thoroughly to remove any unwanted substances. Next, remove all the seeds and leaves and chop the stalk into small pieces that are easy for the little guy to eat.
Video of a budgie eating celery:
The following video shows a lovely budgie enjoying a treat of celery leaves
Related questions (FAQ):
Yes, budgies should eat raw celery as it’s safe and non-poisonous for their body. It is also the best way to give celery to your pet birds as it contains more nutrients. Some pet owners like to cook or boil celery before giving it to their budgies since it is much softer for budgies. But we still recommending feed it in raw form.
Yes, budgies can eat celery leaves. This part of the veggies is even better than the stalk since it has less water content and carries more vitamins. However, we don’t recommend feeding leaves to your budgies as they may contain pesticides that can harm their body. The Environmental Working Group lists celery as being higher in pesticides than other fresh foods. Leaves have the highest concentration of pesticides as they’re usually the parts that get sprayed.
Since budgies have smaller body systems, they cannot withstand these chemicals. They will suffer adverse effects if they consume them. Washing the leaves may get rid of these unwanted substances. But it is still difficult to tell whether you’ve completely removed them. Hence, it’s best to de-leaf celery before giving it to your pet bird. Or go for organic celery that’s free of pesticides.
Final word
Celery is not harmful to your budgies, and putting a piece in their cage won’t hurt them. However, this vegetable has poor nutritional value and is mainly made up of water. This means it’s not one of the healthiest vegetables you should consider feeding your lovely budgies.
If you must feed the budgies celery, keep the amounts low to prevent the downsides like watery poops and crop impaction. Also, consider getting organic celery for your budgies as they contain no pesticides and other harmful chemicals that can hurt your budgie’s health.
Do you know if your budgies can eat strawberries or cabbage? Read our articles about it to learn more.
