If the paint on the exterior of your home suddenly becomes chipped, there could be a tiny culprit lurking around your premises.
Keep an eye out for blue jays: It’s not uncommon for them to take paint chips off of homes in the late fall and winter.
Blue jays help themselves to paint chips because they contain calcium, a vital element needed to lay healthy eggs in the spring. They like to stockpile them during the colder months so they’ll have an ample supply when breeding season starts.
Blue jays tend to go for lighter-coloured paints because they usually contain limestone, a material that is calcium-rich.
Blue jays will also scoop up other calcium sources to eat later, like crushed egg and snail shells.
An added bonus? Calcium helps with digestion.
Calcium isn’t the only thing that blue jays are on the lookout for this time of year. During fall, they’re also stockpiling seeds and nuts from their favourite food sources, including acorns from oak trees, and nuts/seeds from beech, hazel, chestnut, birch, and pine. They’re expert hoarders, caching between 3,000 and 4,000 items that will help them ride out the winter.
Blue jays are smart, and they learn fast. They aren’t normally afraid of scarecrows or other inanimate deterrants, so if you’d like to get a blue jay to stop chipping away at your paint, you’re going to have to negotiate.
Try offering clean and sterilized calcium alternatives, like leftover eggshells. But remember: untreated eggs contain salmonella, which could cause severe illness or death if a blue jay ingests it.
It turns out eggshells aren’t just for the birds: If you grind them up into a fine powder, you can use the shells a calcium supplement to sprinkle into your smoothies, soups, and cooking – really.
One study found that eggshells are an effective way for humans to improve calcium intake, with one eggshell containing roughly 50 per cent of an adult woman’s daily requirement.
