What is wrong with the Bluejay's

Lately the Bluejay's are piccking our paint away from the Shed and even on the house...does somebody has the same experience?
It looks awful... and as the Landscaping would not be enough this spring, now we have to paint too....

Thats the strangest thing, I've never heard of them doing anything like that. I do know that there arent as many around here now as there have been in the past years.
Christine

That's weird,I have some ideas but maybe Resin will chime in.

Not me! No idea! Paint certainly isn't edible.

Maybe they don't like the colour and want you to re-do it something different ;-)

Resin

LOL Honestly that wasn't one of the ideas I had!

It wasn't that ugly before, even with this colour ...hahaha

This afternoon we had about 15 Jay's picking on the house. Perhaps it's all the snow we have and they can't get any sand ??? I heard they need sand to digest ??

I guess that's grit of some sort. Are they actually eating the paint or just peeling it off?

I was thinkng there must be something under the paint in the wood.

This is the weirdest thing. Maybe you should contact your local Audubon chapter and tell them about all this to see what they say.

Okay all sorts of funny things are running through my head over this. :-)

I wonder if there could be insects behind the paint?

Hi guys - I have heard of this before, especially with blue jays. What I heard is that female blue jays will go for peeling paint chips when they need extra calcium for egg laying. The suggestion was to put out egg shells for the blue jays and they will go for that instead. Since I read that I save my egg shells and put them out for the jays every late winter and spring. I think I remember reading that you can get poultry grit for them too and that will work.

Lily...that makes sense. I put out crushed oyster shells I get at the local feed store.

Swissy...that is an adorable shed!

Hi Susan Good to see you! Thanks so much for the answer.

Hi
Just got to talk to my neighbour and he confirmed it's not the "colour" (he has got a white house) and they pick on his house too
so, lilyfantn is right, they need the calcium in early spring, I guess paint chips is replacing the calcium.

Terrific idea to keep the egg shells....I will try it tomorrow.
Thanks

Hi pell - its good to see you guys too! Out of curiosity I decided to see if I could find the source of where I read this. I didn't find the article I read but this one is even better. It states that paint contains calcium carbonate or limestone as a color extender. It goes on to state that blue jays consume twice as much calcium as other birds (they aren't sure why).

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Publications/Birdscope/Summer2001/Painting_eating_jays.html

Here is a site that talks about an actual study being done on this subject and has a link to a place you can send in your observations. I bet they would love to see your pictures Swissy. Interestingly enough, this is a phenomenon of the northeast due to snow cover in winter. (this sure would be the winter for that lol!)


http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/News/Paint-eatingBlueJays.htm

cool!!

Wow, the stuff you learn from watching the wildlife. who knew

Thanks for all the info, and we have enough snow cover here in the northeast, but I never have seen such a thing. Today I tried to take a picture of the Jay's picking, but no luck.As soon as I get closer (if that's possible with all that snow) they fly away. I turn my back...here they go again. Bet you, there will be no paint left by the end of march.
"WINTER GO AWAY"

By the way, I have sent the Pictures to the Website you suggested...

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/News/Paint-eatingBlueJays.htm

That's great swissy! You will have to let us know if you hear from them.

I got a message in my mail and it reads:

Thank you for your message. The jays certainly can be destructive, and
we have heard lots of reports this winter. The snow cover must have been
more persistent than in some years.

Anne Marie Johnson
Project Assistant

Now, we have the answer...Jay's are very lovely birds, but not in my backyard...

I sprinkled some egg shells on the drive way (keeping them away) and the shells disappeared very fast.
We are only two of us and we don't eat so many eggs...now, we are wondering if we should create a "EggShell Coop"
A nice joke for the week-end!!

How about asking your neighbors to save egg shells for you. I was considering that.

Ha ha that's funny swissy! You know, if you have a feed store handy I think poultry grit works too. Someone mentioned that they can get ground oyster shells and I think that would work too.