Variety is ever the spice of life, and this isn’t only true of us.
There are countless things we can eat and it’s generally pretty intuitive to know what’s safe for us.
But when it comes to our parakeets, it can be a bit different.
Though they love nuts and seeds in general, walnuts might be a question mark for you—so can parakeets eat walnuts?
Yes, parakeets can eat walnuts no problem. They represent a tasty and nutritious snack that your parakeets will love. moderation is really important, though, as they shouldn’t have them too often. With this in mind, you’ll have no problem feeding them walnuts.
Nuts in general are a great and central part of a parakeet’s diet, so it’s always good to know that a particular kind of nut is safe for them to eat.
Let’s look at the benefits of feeding your parakeets walnuts.
Are walnuts good for parakeets?
Yes, walnuts are good for parakeets in a wide variety of ways.
Parakeets love nuts, for one thing, and they are almost certain to love walnuts.
Having treats that they enjoy is really important to their mood, which has a knock-on effect on their bodily health, too.
But walnuts also boast a great many specific health benefits.
For one thing, they’re a really good source of fiber.
Parakeets need plenty of fiber in their diet to support the healthy movement of the gut and healthy digestion, so they can never really get too much.
Walnuts also boast a number of other benefits, like a variety of healthy vitamins.
These include vitamin E, which is a powerful antioxidant, and vitamin B6.
Antioxidants prevent the formation of free radicals in the body’s cells, which cause them to break down over time.
Walnuts are also rich in many essential minerals.
These include calcium, which is important for healthy muscles and bones.
Walnuts also contain iron, which regulates blood and oxygen flow, potassium, magnesium, and folate which fulfil a variety of functions around the body including regulating blood pressure and the fluid in cells.
They’re also high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are really beneficial in the proper quantities.
So, clearly, walnuts are filled with all sorts of benefits for your parakeets.
But you can also see that they are highly nutrient-rich—which can lead to problems.
Let’s look at the caveats.
Are walnuts bad for parakeets?
No, walnuts aren’t bad for parakeets in and of themselves.
They won’t cause immediate health problems of any kind when fed to parakeets.
However, the important thing to know about them is that moderation is really important.
They should not have too much, or they will quickly become over-nourished.
The body will have no way to metabolize these extra nutrients, and they will end up stored as fat.
The very fact that walnuts are so nutrient-rich means that your parakeet only needs a small amount before it has extracted all the benefits it really needs.
Beyond this, it will simply be overfilling itself.
At most, you should give your parakeets walnuts once or twice a week, in small amounts.
During the rest of the week, provide a variety of other nuts, fruits, and vegetables.
This will make sure they don’t get bored of the same old treats, while also providing an excellent range of nutrients.
Can parakeets eat walnut shells?
No, not really.
The shells are not intended to be eaten, and you should certainly deshell the walnuts before you give them to your parakeet.
This is, really, what a parakeet’s beak is for, but they will struggle with something as big as a walnut.
Their beaks are not equipped to deal with breaking walnut shells.
They won’t have any interest in eating the shells, in any case.
They might want to play with them, but they won’t eat them, so just be sure to shell the nuts first.
Can parakeets eat raw walnuts?
Yes, they can eat raw walnuts, and this is really the best way to feed them walnuts.
They would only ever find raw walnuts in the wild, and the diet you provide should be a solid approximation of the diet they would have in the wild.
Naturally, they’d never find cooked walnuts in the wild.
Raw walnuts will be tastier, easier to digest, and, most importantly, they won’t lose any of their nutritional value through the cooking process.
Can parakeets eat cooked walnuts?
They really shouldn’t, ideally.
Cooked walnuts are not especially dangerous for parakeets in themselves, but there’s also not really much benefit to giving them cooked walnuts.
They will prefer them raw, and there’s a greater amount of nutritional value in raw walnuts as opposed to cooked.
Further, if you’ve cooked them for your own consumption, you will likely have cooked them in oil or spices of some kind, which are generally not very good for parakeets.
As a pretty hard and fast rule of thumb, anything you give them as a treat is going to be better raw than cooked.
So, as long as you don’t feed them salted or cooked walnuts, and you take the effort to get them out of their shells, walnuts are a great treat for your parakeets.
They are healthy in a great many different ways, and your parakeet will love them.
Just remember the importance of moderation—too much of a good thing is a bad thing!