Young blue jays can’t eat the same foods as their adult counterparts can. Blue jays reach adulthood with a voracious appetite. Since young blue jays lack the digestive capacity to process the same variety of foods that adult blue jays do, what do they eat?
Most of a baby blue jay’s food comes from its parents. The parent blue jays will bring food items like seeds, insects, caterpillars, and worms for their young to feed in the nest.
What you can feed newborn blue jays and what they prefer can be found out by reading the complete post.
Contents
Do Baby Blue Jays Eat Fruits?
Blue jays are omnivores, but they don’t typically eat fruits. They eat nothing but plant and animal products. On the other hand, they can eat fruits to a lesser extent.
In order to keep the health of the newborn blue jays you’ve rescued, it’s advisable to feed them unsalted nuts and soft grains. Blue jay chicks need fresh or frozen berries, not canned ones. The blue jay is an omnivore that enjoys a wide range of insects.
Do Baby Blue Jays Eat Worms?
Blue jay chicks will consume worms that their parents deliver to them. They more commonly consume caterpillars and seeds. Worms are a progressive addition to many blue jay parents’ attempts to help their infants lose weight.
The blue jay’s reputation has been tarnished by the fact that they are trained to kill and consume small birds and eggs. The truth is that most of these birds prefer plant-based diets.
Their diet consists mostly of oak seeds, nuts, and seeds. However, they also consume insects, grasshoppers, and other small animals.
Can Baby Blue Jays Eat Blueberries?
Baby blue jays may safely eat any berry that humans can, including strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Therefore, providing blueberries are safe, young blue jays will eat them without hesitation.
Many species of birds consider blueberries to be their favorite food. Both robins and blue jays have been seen to benefit from them.
Select raw, unsalted nuts and soft grains when creating your blend of child blue jay food for your rescued baby bird.
Can Baby Blue Jays Eat Bread?
No, bread is not suitable for feeding infant blue jays, and you should never try to do so.
While it’s true that blue jays and hummingbirds both enjoy a variety of seeds, that doesn’t mean they are their only sources of nutrition. A baby blue jay should not be fed tofu, wet bread, dry birdseed, or milk.
Feed the baby bird by putting the food at the back of its mouth, past the windpipe, using an eyedropper. Hatchlings should be fed at set times throughout the day and night.
Blue jay chicks can eat a mixture of baby bird chow, insects, wheat bread, mealworms, almonds, chopped apples, hay chicks, and sunflower seeds. Young birds in the wild eat the same foods as their parents, such as worms, insects, seeds, and the like.
Do Baby Blue Jays Eat Crickets?
Crickets, delicate caterpillars, grubs, mealworms in moderate amounts, beetles, and nightcrawlers in small numbers are all things that young blue jays will happily devour.
Larger insects, grasshoppers, caterpillars, mice, bird eggs, and baby birds are all sources of food for them on occasion. Although they are able to supplement their diet with eggs and young birds, these foodstuffs are not a major part of their diet.
Best Food To Feed Baby Blue Jays
The Blue Jay takes in a wide variety of foods in its daily diet. A feast awaits the Blue Jays! Vegetables, oak seeds, beechnuts, seeds, and berries make up the bulk of their food during the colder months.
Bigger bugs, such as grasshoppers, caterpillars, mice, bird eggs, and baby birds, can be a source of food and income for them. Read this quick primer on what to feed newborn birds.
The best place to find commercial blue jay food is at your nearby ranch supply store. Blue jay food is available in some pet stores as well. I recommend trying a small bit of this quick food with your new young bird. When caring for young birds, soften this food by mixing it with water.
If you can’t get pre-packaged blue jay food, you can make your own unprocessed blend. Choose a wide variety of novel foods to incorporate into your baby blue jay’s diet.
Choose an item that didn’t need to be compounded. All-new production, thoroughly washed. As a source of animal protein for your newborn blue jay, try feeding it canned cat or dog food.
What young blue jays eat is listed below.
- Whole peanuts
The blue jay is highly expert at using in-shell nut feeders, often slipping whole peanuts through the holes. Birds like Blue Jays will eat one and then promptly grab another in their beak.
- Nuts
The blue jay is particularly fond of peanuts, corn, dull oil sunflower seeds, and oak seeds. Blue jays aren’t the only birds that like to dine on suet feeders; they also enjoy seed and grain dishes.
What Not To Feed Baby Blue Jays
- Water
Blue jay nestlings don’t venture far from the safety of the nest for water, instead relying on the insects their parents bring to them for sustenance.
- Breads and other goods made with flour and yeast
Though blue jay chicks enjoy a wide variety of foods, including seeds, hummingbirds, and even drinking nectar, this does not represent their sole diet. A baby blue jay should not be fed tofu, wet bread, dry birdseed, or milk.
- Seed for Birds, Unbroken
Blue jay chicks can only eat the same types of seeds as other juvenile birds do.
- Milk
You shouldn’t give blue jay chicks human milk.
- Pet bird seed mix
Two bluebirds can be fed a diet of suet, sunflower hearts, organic products, and cornmeal biscuits, but a nest full of baby blue jays won’t thrive on pet bird food. What kinds of birds enjoy eating sunflower seeds?
If bluebirds have overwintered, most of these will be noticed during the colder months. However, bluebirds will readily consume supper worms all year long, making them the finest food for caring for bluebirds.
- Worms
They will eat worms if their parents serve them to them. They won’t eat if you don’t provide it.
- Rejects from the kitchen
Like other pets, baby blue jays can’t eat simple, cooked pasta and rice from the kitchen, but other birds can.
- Chocolate
Many of the foods that humans eat should not be fed to birds. Birds suffer the same effects from chocolate that dogs and cats do (it contains Theobromine). In no circumstances should you ever feed your birds any chocolate-containing treats.
Conclusion
Young blue jays differ from their elders in their eating habits, and they can’t handle the same foods that their elders can.
Infant blue jays can eat a variety of foods, including those briefly mentioned above. In addition, there are many things you should not avoid feeding newborn blue jays.
