How to Make Pellet Bird Food

Pellet-based bird feed nourishes farm and domesticated birds such as chickens, cockatiels and parrots with high concentrations of multiple ingredients and nutrients. You can make pellet food at home from grasses, grains, vegetables and other self-grown organic matter. Creating pellets that are stable and noncrumbly requires the use of a high-pressure pellet press. New small pellet presses are available from wood or feed pellet-making suppliers, or you can look for used presses on online marketplaces.

Pellet ingredients

Food processor

Vitamin supplements

Natural preservatives

Pellet press

Research what kinds of foods, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are essential for the optimal health of the type of bird you are feeding.

Collect the necessary pellet ingredients. Common ingredients include shelled corn, roasted soybeans, wheat grass, barley grass, alfalfa, oats, wheat germ, fruits and vegetables.

Place the ingredients in a food processor. Add any necessary vitamin supplements beneficial for the particular type of bird as discovered in the research conducted in Step 1, such as calcium, niacin, riboflavin, vitamin A, vitamin E or vitamin B12.

Add approximately 1 tbsp. of a natural preservative per 16 oz. of pellet ingredients. Types of natural preservatives include rosemary extract, salt and citrus peel extract.

Process the desired pellet ingredients into powder form in a food processor.

Place the powder into the hopper of a pellet press. Set the pressure setting to high and run the powder through the press. Pellets are extruded and cut from a pellet die.

Keep pellets fresh by storing them in an airtight, opaque bin in a cool, dry location.