Mark and Lorraine Moore's pet birds, including Madeline the umbrella cockatoo and Rainbow the Nanday conure, served as models for the first bird diapers.

THE MOORES, a Navy family, were being transferred again, this time 2600 miles away to Quantico, Va.

And this time, Lorraine and Mark Moore had two parakeets, two cockatiels, a Nanday conure and an umbrella cockatoo to load in the car along with their two children.

The Moores hated the idea of their birds being cooped up in their cages the entire trip. But they didn't want a poop-covered car interior, either.

"We wanted to take them out in the car, out in the hotel and in friends' homes where we would be staying along the way so we could show them off," said Lorraine, "but birds 'go' about every 15 minutes."

And that is how bird diapers were born.

Business takes flight
With the help of a seamstress friend, Lorraine made skivvies for all six of her birds. They had openings to accommodate legs, wings and the tail and a Velcro fastener. The key feature: an elongated "poop pouch," which caught droppings for up to four hours.

To finetune their design, the Moores visited a local pet store to measure additional bird tushes. When other bird owners began asking about the diapers, a light bulb came on.

FlightSuits come in every size, including "petite" for parakeets.

"We were excited about having a solution to our own problem," remembers Lorraine. "Then we thought, if it makes a difference for us, why not think beyond ourselves?"

Before offering the diapers over the Internet, the Moores thoroughly tested them. Lorraine, a nurse, sought advice from the veterinary school at Cornell University to make sure the diapers would not cause a health problem.

"We still get people who burn us in e-mails questioning whether birds get infections," she said.

The Moores formed a company, Avian Fashions, and debuted their patented didees, called FlightSuits, on their Web site New Year’s Day 1997.

The stretchy Lycra suits come in sizes to fit every avian figure, from petite for parakeets to “colossal” for plus-size parrots. Pampering a bird of average size costs a reasonable $30, including the suit, disposable liners, a leash and shipping charges.

Madeleine the cockatoo models the FeatherProtector, a vest for pluckers.

Colors, sweaters and more
Initially, the Moores ran Avian Fashions out of their tiny 1100-square-foot apartment. In 1998, they traded up to a roomy 4,000-square-foot home in nearby Stafford, Va. Last year they retired from the Navy to run Avian Fashions full time.

Now the Moores spend their days selling bird clothes from desks facing one another in their home's large basement.

Avian Fashions receives up to 50 orders a day. The suits are manufactured in the Phillipines and mailed back to Stafford in bulk for repackaging. The company has one full-time employee, a designer with a degree in fabric engineering, and several part-time envelope stuffers.

No bird brains when it comes to growing a parrot diaper business, the Moores have introduced over a dozen variations on the original product. Fashions for Tweety now include 11 different colors, fleece-lined suits for cold weather, custom-monogrammed knit sweaters, and anti-picking vests called FeatherProtectors.

Costumes, "a real growth area," comprise 30 percent of the business, says Mark. Your bird can dress up as Santa Claus, a witch, a bunny or a turkey. For birds "on the fringes" of society there are Biker Bird and Hippie Bird costumes.

Recently a Tampa radio station requested a Buccaneers costume for its mascot, a blue-and-gold macaw named China, to wear at home football games.

Costumes, such as Hippy Bird, have gone over big with customers.

The Moores – or at least their diapers – are famous. They've been featured on "Good Morning America", Animal Planet's Twisted Tails, the Comedy Channel's Daily Show, the National Geographic Channel, and in dozens of magazine and newspaper articles, including an upcoming issue of Esquire.

They're rich, too, at least compared to the old days of living in cramped military base housing. By early December, Avian Fashions is expected to pass the $1 million mark in sales. "We won't stop until we make the world safe from bird poop," declares Mark.

The Moore children, 12-year-old Genevieve and 15-year-old Nicholas, have taken the strange family business in stride. They like to bring friends over for a peek into the bustling basement, and they dote on the family birds, now six in all. The newest, a duck named Rosie, sleeps in Nicholas' bed at night, wearing a diaper, of course.

The most recent design breakthrough: a diaper for chickens. "We have the bantam nailed; we know the size for that now," reports Mark enthusiastically.

How to diaper a bird
Perhaps stating the obvious, Lorraine says FlightSuits work best with tame birds. Younger birds also tend to be more accepting of wearing clothes. Vicky Foppiano of San Francisco has given up trying to wrestle her three-year-old blue-and-gold macaw, Scooter, into a diaper. "It’s a great idea. I guess we should have worked with her more," she said, sighing.

The suit spooked Scooter the first time she wore it. Now she screams whenever she sees the tropical print. "Awwww! Awwww!" said Foppiano, doing a serviceable imitation of a large parrot in distress. "That’s what she does. Would you like me to send you her diaper?"

Ready-to-ship FlightSuits by the hundreds line the walls of the Moores' finished basement.

Patty Bonner of Medford, Ore., introduced her bare-eye cockatoo to the Moores' diapers when she was only three months old. Now the bird has FlightSuits in nine different colors. "At first, neither she nor I knew what we were doing," says Bonner. "Where does the foot go? Where does the wing go? Now we have it down to a science. She helps me - she puts her foot through the hole and spreads her wing out. She knows she's going outside."

The leashed FlightSuits have opened up a whole new world, says Bonner, who now takes her bird on errands and to outdoor restaurants. Plus, Bonner no longer has to worry about the unsavory aspect of owning a bird. "I'm not big on bird poop on my shoulder. I don't think it's very tasteful."

Suited birds get out of the cage more, agrees Lorraine Moore. They go to church, on bike rides, walking the dog, picking up the kids from school.

That makes her feel good.

"It never gets old getting an e-mail from someone who says, 'I’ve always wanted a bird but couldn't because of the mess,' and know our FlightSuit is going to make their dream come true."

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