What Do Baby Blue Jays Eat?
Baby blue jays eat the same diets as their parents and eat whatever food their parents bring them. Both parents feed the baby blue jays, and the babies are totally dependent on their parents for about the first six weeks after hatching. They can feed themselves after about six weeks but stay with their parents for about 12 weeks.
Blue jays are noisy and aggressive birds with a varied and omnivorous diet. They eat fruits, nuts and seeds as well as insects, mice and frogs. They also raid the nests of songbirds to eat eggs and small birds. They store excess food for later use, often storing more than they can actually eat at any point in the future.
Blue jays breed in monogamous, lifelong pairs. They breed between March and July and lay an average of four eggs per clutch, which must be incubated for 17 or 18 days before hatching. It is mostly the female that incubates the eggs, although in some cases the male participates. Northern populations generally only have one clutch per year, but southern populations often have two. Blue jays are capable of breeding within their first year of life and live an average of seven years, although the oldest captive specimens reach 26 years of age.
