Thank you for visiting  us at Feather+Aid. 

We are a family of bird-lovers dedicated to improving the

"health and happiness"

of our feathered friends!
 

We have been manufacturing our own specialty bird food mixes since 1995.
 

In the beginning...

     We had difficulty finding any good quality food mixes. When we did find something good, it was often expired, had to be special ordered, or was too expensive to feed our sanctuary flock. So, we created a quality mix to feed our own flock and refrigerated it to slow down the product deterioration and to control insects. At first we served it only in our aviary.  Then, when we began selling baby birds, we included some of our special mix to start the babies off with. Shortly after, we began having people call us because they couldn't get their bird to eat anything they bought elsewhere. Our feeling was it must have been due to old food which was often sold in grocery, pet, and department stores. (Ours is always made with the freshest available ingredients).
     

     In 1996, we decided to get it licensed. It was kind of our HOUSE MIX. We sold it in our store and to those who knew us personally. Over the next six years the mix became very popular, and was considered one of the best on the market.

     In February of 2000 one of the owners of the business became deathly ill. At first the doctor thought it was an allergy to birds. It was learned very quickly the allergy was not to the birds, but to the birds' food. Having the food in each of the cages surrounding the owner was causing an Anaphylactic type of allergic reaction. Modifications had to be made in what we fed our flock. We removed some of the ingredients responsible for the allergen. For about 2 years we fed this modified version of the original formula to our own birds, but still sold the originally licensed formula in our store. Often we were having people come into our store who claimed they were allergic to birds, but noticed they did not get sick in our store with so many birds. At first we thought it was odd, but let it go.
                                              

                    The following incident made us take a closer look. 

  In 2002 we sold a bird to a family with a young girl about 10 years old. The bird was not old enough to leave, so they put her on layaway, came to visit, and got to know the bird and her care. For about 6 weeks the young girl came into our store 2-3 days per week and stayed for 1-2 hours each visit. When the bird was weaned the girl took her home. The next day we received a phone call from the child's mom saying they had to return the bird. She said their daughter was allergic to the bird. I told her "that was not possible". She became angry and informed me that the child’s grandfather was a doctor. He said she is allergic to the bird because every time she went near the cage she got hives. I said "I don't care who her grandfather is, she can't be allergic to the bird". Her mom was really getting steamed, but asked why I felt that way. I told her. "The baby she took home was not old enough to produce enough dust to cause an allergic reaction. In addition she spent a great deal of time over a 6 week period in a facility with over 200 birds which are old enough". I went on to say “But, you have something we don’t have”.  I asked “Would please throw out the food I gave to you in your starter kit and come back and get some of the special food I have hidden in the back that we give to our own birds". I explained my illness and how we realized that the regular food was causing my allergic reactions. I made a deal that if it wasn't the food I would take the bird back. I didn't hear from the family for several hours. I was getting very concerned that if the child were like me she could get pretty sick if the bird food remained in her breathing space.  Her father finally came in about 6 hours later to get the other food. He let me know the girl's mom and grandfather did not believe it was the food causing the reaction, so they decided to test her. They stuck her face in the bag of food. The girl got a serious asthma attack and was covered in hives. The reason he took so long is they spent most of the day in the emergency room; 5 hrs to get her breathing under control. The entire family knew I was right at this point and requested the special food.
 

     We often had people come into our store very upset, because they were told they had to give up their birds due to allergies. If the owner wasn't upset at the idea, we didn’t say anything. There were some, though, whose lives were falling apart over it, and those who vowed it didn't matter. They were keeping the bird anyway.  We asked if they would like to try the special formula instead of the regular mix, to see if it was possible that the food was causing the allergic reactions. We all noticed that, in our store, they didn't seem to have any symptoms (200 birds). The food could really be the only difference.  If it were an allergy to birds, it should be worse in a place like ours with so many birds, but they got no reaction at all. So we all thought it was worth a try. The tests were successful. It wasn't just a few here and there, but EACH and EVERY person who changed their bird's food was able to keep their bird. The positive response was overwhelming. It also really scared us, so we began bagging up this special food and keeping some hidden for households with asthma, allergies, and other chronic illnesses.  When we would sell a bird, we also began asking if anyone in the household was sick. If there was, we would send the special food, just in case the other might be a problem for them.
 

This compelled us to start studying the ingredients in some of the most popular commercial food mixes on the market, including pelleted diets. We found many of the ingredients, vitamin supplements, and preservatives used (even those which are marketed as natural), may in fact be toxic to individuals who are sensitive to them.  We began to wonder about people we knew in the past who had to give up birds, and breeders who were sick all of the time and had to give up their birds. What if they were really allergic to the food rather than the bird and compounding already existing health problems.  It seemed to be enough of a problem for us to change all of the food manufactured by us to the special mix. We also needed to somehow eliminate pellets from our own birds' diet due to this concern. While we were working on our feather picker formula (Feather+Gro) and learning how to stick it to the seed to feed our own flock, we found that the vegetables used in it had a very positive effect on the over all health of our birds. That is when we developed Pro+Veggies as an alternative to a pelleted diet for those who were sensitive to pellets or chose not to feed them, and seed junkies as well.
 

 
Since changing our birds over to a Pro+Veggie treated trail mix,  we have seen an overall improvement in all of our birds' health. We used to recommend pellets as a portion of an overall healthy diet.  Yet, we found our aviary birds are healthier without the pellets. Our regular Trailmixes sold to the general public are still made using pellets as the fortification. We have made available to those who would prefer not to feed pellets (as a custom mix) Trailmix fortified with either the Feather+Gro or Pro+Veggies.

Introducing.....THE SNEAKY WAY TO INCORPORATE VEGETABLES IN THE FINICKY BIRDS' DIET!!

Pro+Veggies Trailmix:
  Pro+Veggies is an all natural combination of superfoods, vegetables, real egg, and calcium.
  This is an effective and easy way to incorporate vegetables into your bird’s daily diet.  Birds tend to enjoy the taste and eat our Trailmixes readily.  Trailmixes are a balanced combination of shelled and in shell seeds, grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables.  Shelled ingredients offer more food value while in shell seeds provide a mental exercise which help to combat boredom as nature intended.

  *For Seed Junkies & Picky birds this may be a healthful alternative.  
  *Birds sensitive to Processed Foods, Formulated & Other Commercial Diets,
  *Human with sensitivities to birds and their diet.
  *For those who would prefer not to feed formulated diets, this may be the ideal alternative.

Available Products:  
  Small Trailmix for small hookbills in 2# & 4# bags,
  Medium Trailmix for medium to large Parrots in 4# bags,
  Fruit, Nut and Vegetable Mix for medium to large birds in 3# bags.
  Trial size Small Trailmix, Medium Trailmix are available.
   
   
   
  Feather+Gro Trailmix:
  Feather+Gro is an all natural combination of concentrated vegetables, real egg and extra calcium.
  An effective and easy way to incorporate vegetables into your birds daily diet. Most birds enjoy the taste and eat Trailmixes readily.  Trailmixes are a balanced combination of shelled and in shell seeds, grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables.  Shelled ingredients offer more food value while in shell seeds provide a mental exercise which help to combat boredom as nature intended.
   
  Feather+Gro was developed with our own feather picking birds in mind. We have been researching the different causes of feather pickers since we began our sanctuary work in 1995. This formula has been used successfully in our sanctuary of 200+ & over 150 avian volunteers involved in case studies since 2002. It has been found to be effective in improve most feather issues seen in our case studies. Even in birds which have had too much follicle damage to ever re-grow new feathers we have seen an over all improvement in general health and vitality. No negative side effects from this product have ever been seen in birds. In all birds, vet checked after using this product, results have been better than expected.

  Available Products:  
  Small Trailmix for small hookbills in 4# bags,
  Medium Trailmix for medium to large Parrots in 4# bags,
  Fruit, Nut and Vegetable Mix for medium to large birds in 3# bags.
  Trial size  Small Trialmix, Medium Trailmix