As a bird owner, you may have heard of the importance of leafy green in your feathered friends’ diet. But what leafy vegetable should be on the priority list? That is when you find a lot of people talking about kale for pet birds.
So, can budgies eat kale? Of course. Additionally, it improves respiratory systems, reduces stress levels, and strengthens bones. What’s more, they love to chew on vegetables.
Even so, you can’t make it a regular diet for your budgies. Instead, kale is a great option for making a varied diet. In this post, we are discussing just that. So, keep reading to learn more.
Can You Feed Kale to Budgies?
Yes, you can serve kale to budgies. However, you need to serve curly kale in moderation. It’s an exceedingly nutritional snack for budgies.
As a pet owner, you can’t ignore the fact that a budgie’s diet should include a wide variety of nutrients. The problem is that budgies have a tiny appetite. So, feeding a lot is out of the question.
That’s why the best option is to rely on bird pallets. Pallets fulfill all the nutritional requirements for your pet bird. However, you need to serve them organic vegetables once in a while to switch flavors.
Bird nutritionists often suggest owners create a varied diet. Considering budgies’ tiny appetites, what are their favorite vegetables? Raw kale is on top of the list.
About 70 to 80% of budgies’ daily meal consists of formulated pallets. And you need to supplement rest of the daily diet with seed diets, nutritious vegetables, and fruits.
Curly kale is a good option because it contains compounds that limit calcium absorption in a budgie’s body. If you serve them kale, it offers some crucial health benefits such as brain, skeletal, and bone development, plumage growth, etc.
Now that you know kale is a nutritious vegetable for budgies, don’t feed them every day. You should never serve kale more than 2 to 3 times within a week. Kale contains calcium. If budgies overeat them, there will be health concerns like overgrown beaks, seizures, etc.
So, even though you can feed them kale, you need to stay alert on how much you are feeding them. Keep reading so that you can know how much and how you can feed them kale.
Do Budgies Like Kale?
Yes, if you feed a varied diet to your budgie, they are sure to like kale. Most of the time, budgies that eat a seed diet stay reluctant to try out a different type of food.
That doesn’t mean they don’t like leafy vegetables. Once you encourage your pet budgie to try veggies like kale, they slowly start to love the vegetable. So, you have to be persistent and try to feed them leafy greens like kale.
Health Benefits for Budgies Eating Kale
Kale is a popular superfood that contains plenty of nutrients. Here are the health benefits of kale for budgies:
Body Development
You must ensure a healthy plumage growth for your pet bird. For that, you need to ensure the bird gets enough Vitamin A. Vitamin A contributes to tissue growth, brain development, vision, skeletal development, cell, and tissue growth, etc.
Good Supplementary Diet for Injured Budgies
If somehow your budgie gets injured, you need to serve them kale. Kale also contains Vitamin K which prevents blood clotting. This nutrient regulates proper blood flow for an injured budgie.
Prevents Body Abnormalities
Budgies’ appetite is tiny. So, it can’t eat a lot of food. And that’s where fixing a supplementary diet becomes tough. If you can’t serve fresh foods that cover all the essential nutrients, your pet budgie is sure to face body abnormalities such as amino acid deficiency, egg abnormality, joint dislocation, pyrosis, etc.
And that’s the reason why kale is a great moist food for a budgie. It has Vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, copper, and calcium. These nutrients can prevent the body abnormalities of your pet bird.
How Much Kale Should Budgies Eat?
A budgie can eat around 15 to 20 grams of food a day. Around 75 to 80% of their diet consists of palleted food or mixed seed. The rest of the portion is made up of fruits and vegetables.
Bird nutritionists suggest you should serve 10 to 15% vegetables in a budgie’s diet. It means you can feed 3 to 5 grams of kale to your budgie. However, you have to feed them kale in moderation.
It’s recommended to feed them kale mixed with other vegetables. And you can feed them kale 1 or 2 times a week. Feeding them too much kale can also cause health abnormalities. So, you have to be careful.
How Do You Prepare Kale for Budgies?
It’s important to know what type of kale you can feed your budgie and what type of kale you can’t. Keep reading to know more:
What Type of Kale You Can Feed Your Budgie
If you have cooked kale with organic spices like garlic, spices, or salt, you better avoid serving them to your budgie. Salty food is bad for your budgie. However, you can prepare kale in three ways for your pet bird:
- Raw Kale: You can rinse the green kale with clean water to get rid of any pesticides. And if you don’t go overboard with the amount, it’s fine to feed them raw kale.
- Kale Flakes: You can buy them from any nearby grocery store. Kale flakes make great snacks for your budgie. But make sure to check that the kale doesn’t contain extra spice or salt.
- Kale Juice: If your working out, you may have tried kale juice. And it’s completely fine to share it with your budgie. But don’t share a lot (considering their appetite).
- Cooked Kale: Steam cooking is another way to prepare kale for your budgie. Yes, it will lower the nutrients slightly. However, cooked kale causes fewer problems for the birds’ stomachs.
- Vegetable mix: You can include kale in a vegetable mix along with broccoli, lettuce, corn, spinach, and zucchini.
Can You Feed Kale to Baby Budgies?
Yes, you can feed kale to baby budgies in moderation. As there’s a chance that they might suffer from extensive iron consumption, it’s a good idea to steam cook the kale first. After that, you should feed them kale.
Here’s a good demonstration of how to prepare kale for baby budgies:
FAQ
Here are answers to some common questions regarding the topic:
Yes, it’s ok to serve raw kale to your budgie. Before feeding them raw kale, you need to wash the vegetable thoroughly with water.
Yes, Kale is not a toxic green food for budgies. But you need to feed them kale occasionally (once or twice a week).
Wrapping Up
So, there you have it. Kale is a superfood for your budgie if you don’t overfeed them with it. Well, now you know what you need to do.
Just like we said, birds tend to follow their habit. If they rely on a seed diet, they might not show any interest in fresh, moist foods, at first. And that’s where you always ask, can budgies eat kale? Yes, it can. You just need to create a habit in them. Try out things to pick their interest in vegetables.
Do you know if your budgies can eat kiwi or asparagus? Read our articles about it to learn more.
