Can Budgies Eat Oranges?

Oranges are eaten by wild budgies, so this fruit makes a healthy dietary addition. Budgies can eat all parts of the orange, including the peel (skin), flesh, and seeds.

Oranges contain healthy nutrients, including vitamin A, vitamin C, antioxidants, citric acid, and fiber. This citrus fruit is a proven immune system booster for parrots, including small birds like parakeets.

While orange juice has a high concentration of vitamin C, store-bought fruit juice contains too much sugar, artificial colorings, and preservatives. Only fresh orange juice is suitable for budgies.

Can I Give My Budgie Oranges?

Budgies enjoy a wide selection of fruits, including oranges. They’re nutritious and healthy, containing vitamins and minerals that budgies need to stay healthy.

Oranges don’t contain harmful compounds, toxins, or chemicals. However, you mustn’t feed orange segments to your budgie too often. Overfeeding can leave your budgie vulnerable to nutritional deficiencies if it declines other food sources.

Oranges are a rich source of the following:

• Vitamins A and C
• Citric acid
• Fiber
• Carotenoids
• Antioxidants
• Flavonoids

Budgies enjoy eating oranges, but consumption must be moderated.

How Much Orange Can You Give To Your Budgie?

Fresh fruits should only account for around 10% of your budgie’s meals.

Orange segments are healthy, but that changes if budgies eat them too often. Because oranges are so sweet, your budgie is at risk of overeating them.

To prevent this from happening, offer your parrot one segment at a time several times per week. Even though oranges are high in vitamin C, the body only absorbs what it needs, flushing out the rest.

Oranges Nutritional Information

As described by the U.S Department of Agriculture, one orange weighing 154 grams contains the following nutrients:

Are Oranges Good for Budgies?

Oranges contain the following nutrients:

Fiber

Fiber encourages good gut health by forcing the digestive system to work harder.

This flushes out the gut, keeping it regular and healthy. Fiber also softens stools, allowing budgies to pass waste more easily through the body.

Nutrition Research also describes how fiber from citrus fruits decreases blood cholesterol, giving your budgie more energy and enabling it to live a longer life.

Antioxidants and Flavonoids

Oranges are packed with plant-based compounds with antioxidant properties. Antioxidants have the ability to lower the risk of age-related diseases, including:

• Metabolic diseases
• Inflammation-related diseases
• Cancer

There are two types of antioxidants in oranges. The first type is flavonoids, which include anthocyanins and hesperidin.

Hesperidin is linked to lower blood pressure, while anthocyanins can give your budgie better vision, stronger blood cells, a boosted immune system, and a more agile mind.

According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, flavonoids have additional benefits:

• Improved blood flow
• Heart disease prevention
• Blood pressure regulation

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is essential for your budgie’s health and well-being. In fact, it’s one of the most important vitamins, so adding some orange to your budgie’s diet can:

• Strengthen the immune system
• Enable the body to absorb iron
• Stabilize blood sugar levels
• Ensure the healthy development of the muscles and bones
• Keep cholesterol levels stable
• Prevent bad cells from forming

Also, vitamin C fights infections and viruses and can help wounded or injured budgies to heal faster.

Carotenoids And Vitamin A

Carotenoids are present in fruits and vegetables with a yellow or reddish hue, including carrots, oranges, tomatoes, and lemons.

Carotenoids are broken down into:

• Lycopene
• Beta-cryptoxanthin

Carotenoids are converted into vitamin A and other compounds. Budgies are prone to vitamin A deficiencies, so they need to eat foods that are rich in this vitamin.

Citric Acid

Oranges are a citrus fruit with a sour taste due to the presence of citric acid. This is beneficial to your budgie’s health, as it can improve the following:

• Skin
• Digestion
• Feather color and strength
• Kidney stone prevention
• Processing calcium

Acidity

Oranges are one of the most acidic fruits. If you feed them to your budgie too often, they can cause painful mouth and stomach ulcers.

While you’d need to feed your bird lots of oranges to cause any damage, budgies are only small with delicate digestive systems, so they can eat too much.

Signs of stomach ulcers include:

• Vomiting blood
• Loss of appetite and energy
• Diarrhea
• Rapid weight loss
• Blood in urine and poop
• Cold and pale feet

If stomach ulcers become too painful, a budgie may require medication.

Can Budgies Eat Orange Peels?

Orange peels are safe for budgies to eat.

While the peel is unpleasant-tasting for humans, some budgies prefer the skin to the flesh and seeds. Not only is it nutritionally healthy, but it provides them with much-needed mental stimulation.

Vitamin C is found most densely in the skin, so budgies benefit from eating the peel. However, the peel is the part that’s exposed to pesticides during the farming process, so it must be washed thoroughly.

Can Budgies Eat Orange Seeds?

Orange seeds are harmless for budgies and can be safely fed to them. The seeds are difficult to remove from the stringy meat, so your budgie will occasionally eat 1-2 seeds when devouring an orange segment.

Can You Give Budgies Orange Juice?

The Journal of Urology explains how orange juice is higher in citric acid than any other part of the orange.

The juice is a natural part of the orange, meaning it’s safe for your budgie to drink. If you juice fresh oranges at home, you can set some aside for your budgie to enjoy.

You may wish to dilute the orange juice with water to reduce the number of calories. Put it into a shallow water bowl and replace it after a couple of hours.