Manufacturer of Dr. D's Avian Pellets
Avi-Sci, Inc.

Methods
The other method, called "cooker extrusion", is used to make products like dog food and some
bird pellets.  This process produces the hard and often "shaped" pellets that are correctly called
"kibble".  The ingredients are cooked at a high temperature, destroying many of the nutrients.  The hard
kibble results in more waste than the soft pellet when the bird cracks it and the pieces go flying across
the room.  Also, many nutrients are lost in the cooking process.

It is easy to tell what process the manufacturer has used if you want to avoid the cooked
pellet.  The raw ones always look like little rods or cut up pencils while the cooked pellets often are in
different shapes.  If the bird pellet looks like a smaller version of dog or cat food, then it is really a
"kibble" and it has been cooked.  
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All the different complete bird formulas made by different companies are commonly called "pellets".  
But technically there are two different processes used by different manufacturers.  The first method produces
what feed manufacturers call
"pellets" and that is the method we use.  

In this process the RAW ingredients are ground up and squeezed through a tube with an auger like sausage.  
The mix is pushed through a die with holes in it and it comes our like spaghetti.  A knife cuts it into small
pieces that result in "pellets".  The ingredients are heated up with a little friction in the process, but they
remain uncooked and raw.  This preserves the natural vitamins and nutrients.

The advantages of this process is that the pellet is soft and easy to eat and the raw ingredients
retain more nutrition.
All of our raw pellets, with the exception of the canary and budgie crumbles, are the same size
pellet.  

We make different formulas for the different breeds and ages of birds, just like cat food and dog food are
different, and just like puppy food and adult dog food are different.  

Some of our smaller competitors make the same formulas for all birds but make them different sizes to give
the appearance of a range of different diets.  

All of our pellets are about the size of a pencil cut into small pieces, or about the size of rabbit pellets.  We
have found that this size encourages the parrot to take it with the beak, but is too small to pick up with the
foot.  When the parrot does that, most of the food ends up on the floor and while that is profitable for us, it
wastes money for you!
Raw Extrusion
Cooker Extrusion
If you are still unsure, try this test

Place a few pellets in a cup of water, the raw pellets will fall apart in a few minutes but the kibbles will retain
their shape.
STILL UNSURE?
A WORD ABOUT PELLET SIZE
Advantages of Our Raw Pellets Over Cooked Ones