Scrub Jays -- Help!

[wishful]

I don't think hot sauce would work, since birds can't detect the hotness in peppers. I have heard of people loading eggs up with chicken poop to stop egg-eaters - you could try that. Though if the eggs are left alone in the shell (like not eaten, just pecked) it's probably more a competition thing than the bird wanting to eat it, so I guess that might not work. Good luck, though.

 

[High Roost Ranch]

Quote:
They really can't taste the hot stuff? Wow, I didn't know that, thanks for sharing that. Good thing dogs don't have the same capability. :O

 

[ekemily]

I guess you're talking about what we call blue jays down here in the south. It sounds like they're trying to peck the eggs to try and kill the competition of other birds hatching. I like the curtain idea. A remedy for birds around here is hanging a pie pan by a string, so that it blows in the wind and spooks them. Also, do you have a rooster? Maybe he could help.

 

[wishful]

I guess it depends on what the flavour is coming from in the hot sauce. Maybe if it was something artificial it could work. But capiscain, the thing which makes hot peppers burn like they do, doesn't affect birds. It's there to keep mammals from eating the peppers because we destroy the seeds when we eat them, while birds are able to spread the seeds undamaged.

 

[fancbrd4me02]

Jays learn where food sources are. I advise you to collect eggs as often as possible, vigilently for at least a week or two. The Jays will eventually move on to another food source. Or, you can offer them something they like in stead of eggs in a bird feeder nearby. My jays like peanuts in the shell. They will come over and take them almost from my hand...when I was young we had one that would land on us to take it, or fly by and grab it if you held it in the air. Very easy to tame and very intelligent birds.

 

[JenniferK]

I wonder if it is a competition thing, because usually it's just a small hole and not much egg missing that I can tell. But I will say that I tried loading up a hollowed out egg with spicy sauce one time when we were having this problem before, and it was absolutely devoured! So not only does it not deter them, it seemed as though they preferred it to eggs. About providing an alternative food source, I do have bird feeders that the jays are on all the time, but apparently it's not enough to keep them out of the hen house. I have been going out a couple of times a day to check for eggs, and they still peck one every day. I really don't have time to camp out there. Is there a trap that would work? I don't want to kill them -- just give them a good reason not to come back! Oh, and yes, my curtain had failed by the end of the day. I hate birds that are smarter than I am.

 

[cook_kaka_ook]

I'm glad I found this thread. I'm going to try some of your ideas and see if it'll work. I caught a blue jay

leaving the coop and found an egg partially pecked (small hole). At first I was suspecting that 1 of the girls was doing it. But now without a doubt it's that pesky blue jay.

 

[BlueJammies]

I have had a blue jay pecking eggs every day now for over a month- today I made a wire tunnel that fits over the ramp coming down from the coop with a bunch of aluminum foil streamers coming down around the open end of the tunnel. The chickens don't seem to mind at all and so far no pecked eggs.