Kauai Chicken
If you have been to Kauai you know that there is a huge population of chickens just roaming around. For non-Hawaiians waking up on the first day of your once a year vacation from the daily grind, at dawn, to the crowing of a plethora of roosters can be surprising, and then immediately annoying. What is going on? Where did all these chickens come from, and why are they running loose all over the island.
Our first visit there the chickens, who are fearless, waited for us at the patio door. When we opened it, they strolled on in took a lap around the dining room table and the garbage can before we got over our shock and escorted them out. There after they came daily, though now we were wise to them and kept them outside. Only the roosters were annoying. The Hawaiian hens are very laid back, or hung loose or whatever they call it.
Our outing to Ke'e Beach to go snorkeling also provided some new experiences as chickens, while not actually getting in the ocean, did enjoy sunbathing. Actually they enjoyed scrounging around all the families on the beach. They did not beg for food. They demanded and grabbed what they wanted, though no one was injured. Kauai'ans just shoo them away or ignore them. Vacationers seem much more disturbed, probably because chickens don't typically run the streets of their home towns.
Turns out chickens ( moa in Hawaiian) came to the islands with the first settlers, who in turn came from the Marquesas. They apparently were a hearty breed and adapted well. Chickens inhabit all the Hawaiian Islands, but not to the extent they do Kauai.
Why, you ask? This is a fascinating example of "not thinking things through". On all the other islands farmers imported mongoose to help combat the rat population that was decimating the root crops. The thinking was that the mongoose would keep the rat population under control.
One small error in that theory was that while mongoose hunt during the day, rats are nocturnal ergo they are never eating at the same time, so to speak. However, chickens are up and at em early each day, providing mongoose with a delicious alternative to rat. Since mongoose were never imported to Kauai, there was and is no natural predator in the island, Chicken are at the top of critter food chain on Kauai.
Of course Hurricane Iniki a class 4 Hurricane, which destroyed much of Kauai in 1992 also contributed to the freedom loving chickens who apparently were blown all over the island when their coops were destroyed.
So don't be surprised to see a chicken on your patio chaise lounge next time you visit Kauai. Mean while Aloha and Mahalo.
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