Blue Jay HELP Pleeeeeease?????!!!!

[TiikkiStars]

Okay, you may, or may not, remember a post (http://stamp-shack.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32850) awhile back about all the critters that come to eat my poor aging kitties' cat food and the recent addition of Blue Jays to that list. That post was mostly an exasperated rant that was a therapeutic vent for me. Thank you all for listening to/reading it!

NOW, I'm Begging anyone for ADVICE on something that might deter those darn Blue Jays from continuing to come to my back door and eat the cat food! Not only am I concerned about what diseases they may spread to the cats (and my kidlets), but the bird poop is annoying and disgusting on my deck, where we all walk with bare feet. And speaking of annoying, they are Screeching All day long!! I am seriously going to need to be taken away in a straight jacket very soon if I cannot find a way to annoy them right back! Yes, annoy them. I want very much to Annoy them, not hurt them, so they decide this isn't that great of a place to hang out ALL day, Every day anymore!

Plllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaase..... ..any Advice?????????

Thank you so very much for listening/reading this far and I oh so appreciate anything you may have to offer......including sanity! :>

:> Karen

[Nancy]

Take away their feeding plate and let the cats eat inside. - Nancy

[cindi]

do you have a blue seal store? if so maybe they can help you, they are very knowledgable about this kinda stuff.
Good luck, and Nancy's idea will work for sure!
:)

[GrammaStamper]

John says throw corn cobs into the next door neighbour's yard for a week then stop. They'll yell at the neighbour instead of you! PS: don't tell your neighbour it's you, just feign ignorance of the situation.

[TiikkiStars]

John says throw corn cobs into the next door neighbour's yard for a week then stop. They'll yell at the neighbour instead of you! PS: don't tell your neighbour it's you, just feign ignorance of the situation.

Well, that's not a horrible idea since the reason they are coming here in the first place is because some neighbor....still not sure which one....is leaving peanuts out for them and then carry them here and shell them on the roof.....eating the peanut and leaving the shell on the roof for us! How nice. Not!

As for feeding them inside, its just not possible. They were indoor only kitties for their first six years, then I bought my house, and then became indoor/outdoor with us feeding them inside. Then racoons thought it was a good idea to come in the house, eat all the food and wander around looking for more.......while we were still up and within two feet of them! So, the cat door got closed up, we still fed them inside and then more time passed and our oldest kidlet became old enough to walk and suddenly the girl kitty began to pee in the house. We spent two years trying different things to get her to stop peeing in the house, including the last attempt by putting the litter box in our bathroom and keeping them in our room at night. After many kitty bodily fluids on our bed and floor and the final straw of me sitting in the cat litter box in the middle of the night when I got up to use la toilette, they went outside permenantly and I bought them an igloo to sleep in. Soooooo, no feeding inside.

Any more suggestions??? Please???? I'm all ears!! And my family would like my patience meter reinstated!! :>:>

:> Karen

[Mrs. Fence]

Well, I don't know if this works for Blue Jays, but our neighbors across the street have a similar problem with wild turkeys. They come, eat all the food, poop everywhere...What Mrs. Hamilton does is ring a loud bell whenever they show up! We always know when she's ringing it, not because we can hear it, but because we can see the flying turkey trot!

[cindi]

Well, I don't know if this works for Blue Jays, but our neighbors across the street have a similar problem with wild turkeys. They come, eat all the food, poop everywhere...What Mrs. Hamilton does is ring a loud bell whenever they show up! We always know when she's ringing it, not because we can hear it, but because we can see the flying turkey trot!

OMG!! that's hillarious!!!!
what a riot
:)

[kimmyqtgirl]

Not sure about blue jays but sprinkling grape koolaid mix around keeps robins away. My in laws had a bunch of robins that kept flinging the mulch all over. So they sprinkle koolaid around and no more robins. Also I heard birds don't like windchimes or thing that move like pinwheels.

Let us know if anything works

[teabear]

Lots of good suggestions. I've got neighbors who have fake owls on their homes to deter woodpeckers. It might also work with blue jays.

[loobylou]

buy some rubber snakes and place them by the cat food bowls

[Nancy]

I have windchimes and an owl and the birds sit right next to them. Tell the people feeding the bluejays not to, see if that helps. We have neighbors who let their cats run loose and of course they make in our front yard, I am tempted to put up a sign that says Large litter box - It aggravates me, so I never hesitate to tell them, doesnt do any good. They wouldnt like it if my dog made in their yard. So I am teaching my dog to chase cats. He is doing a great job.- Nancy

[suzi_f]

Hmm, I wonder if bluejays eat ants. We could get rid of both our problems......

[TiikkiStars]

Hmm, I wonder if bluejays eat ants. We could get rid of both our problems......

LOL! That's okay, Suzi, you can keep your ants! ;> But, to be helpful, I googled some natural ways to get rid of ants and found THIS (http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html) Hope there is something in there that works for you! I use peppermint oils in my cupboard with all of my flour and sugar. I used to get these little nats and little larvae, no matter how tightly sealed I kept everything. I started putting a couple of drops of peppermint oil on each shelf once every couple months and I no longer have to throw anything out!

:> Karen

[suzi_f]

LOL! That's okay, Suzi, you can keep your ants! ;> But, to be helpful, I googled some natural ways to get rid of ants and found THIS (http://www.thefrugallife.com/ants.html) Hope there is something in there that works for you! I use peppermint oils in my cupboard with all of my flour and sugar. I used to get these little nats and little larvae, no matter how tightly sealed I kept everything. I started putting a couple of drops of peppermint oil on each shelf once every couple months and I no longer have to throw anything out!

:> Karen

Thanks for the site!! I'm going to try some of these! I don't know where they are coming from, that's the problem. I starting to wonder about my dishwasher as I have found a number of them in there (but maybe they were just trying to get away from the ant spray???) When my dad comes home in 3 weeks, I may have him pull the dishwasher out so we can clean & spray behind it. I'm about to let them have the house & move out!!!

[TiikkiStars]

Suzi, a couple of years ago, we were getting HORRID attacks. They almost always were coming from an electrical outlet.....I thought, joy, they're in the walls! But, then we stopped getting them for a good while. At that time, I sprayed around the outlets with poison. I know last summer we had colonies living under our grass....every once and awhile, they were obviously moving their home because suddenly, there would be thousands of them!! When the kids were playing in the grass, I would pour a line of mouthwash in between those thousands of ants and the kids and they would not cross it.......the ants OR the kids! :> I am curious about that talcum powder solution though.....looks easy, cheap, and without the chemicals! Let me know if any of them work for you!! Good luck.............fingers crossed that you win! :>

:> Karen

[TiikkiStars]

Okay, this is TOO much!!! I just went outside and looked at my precious son's strawberry plant that he has been growing, all by himself and the four strawberries that were on there, one getting ripe, are all gone! Those darn blue jays ATE them!!! I realize why they are here, their nest is in the tree in our neighbor's yard behind us. I just saw a momma blue jay on the back fence watching as one of the baby blue jays tried to come to our deck for cat food. Nope, we're not starting the next generation on this diet!! ; >

:> Karen