Blue Jays are Bad

Ok, so here's the thing. Last year I had a few blue jays hanging around my house. They were pretty funny to watch, and even funnier to listen to. The little song birds would be outside my window just singing their hearts out. Then the blue jays would chime in with this terrible squawking. But, it was wholehearted, and hysterical. They also loved to squeeze themselves into my miniature birdbath, two or three at a time, and fluff up their feathers and fling up the water all while squawking away. It was so entertaining that I decided to start feeding them so they would hang around.

That was a BIG mistake.

Shortly afterwards, I noticed that they had an affinity for my apple tree. THEN, I noticed that they were systematically stripping the little apples off the limbs! Every single one!! Well, the feeder disappeared and was replaced by a little pile of rocks. But, they had grown used to my house and had no intention of moving on. Instead, they started gorging themselves on chicken food. So, I got my guy to put a smaller gauged wire over the pen to keep them out. Finally, winter came and they were gone.

Now they are back. They must have remembered me. The lady with a weak arm and a bad aim. And, they are persistent enough to work little bits of food out of the songbird feeders. So the pay off is pretty good. But this morning, owwwwww, they went too far!
I had fed the hens and gathered the eggs. I put the eggs down so I could plant a few things in the garden while I was outside. I heard a funny noise behind me and turned around to see them on the bowl of eggs, chowing down!


So, here's the thing. I had a LOT of torn open eggs last year. My guy and I would stand at the nesting boxes looking at all of the broken shells and wonder what was going on. Now, we have had hens peck their eggs before, but this was different. I was convinced I had a snake or some other awful thing out there eating the eggs. And even worse, I was afraid that one day I would open the nesting boxes to gather the eggs and come face to face with this unknown creature! Never once did I think that it was the blue jays!!

Now I know better. And, I bet that most of you who are reading this story already knew that blue jays are actually pests and not amusing birds. Sometimes I wonder how I can manage to survive a single day without constant supervision. Really. So, if you would like to help me out, just let me know.