Personal blog about states
Local lore is that many of the Kauai chickens are descendants of birds that escaped when Hurricane Iwa in 1982 and then Hurricane Iniki in 1992 blew open coops. (Feral chickens are found on other Hawaiian islands, but not in overwhelming numbers.
According to National Geographic, genetic tests, and at least one biologist, Kauai’s wild chicken population has grown as a result of domesticated birds inadvertently let loose, and thereby breeding with each other as well as wild fowl. Today – with no natural predators – the wild chicken population continues growing.
According to the state, the feral fowl are not protected birds. You can trap them, but only with approval. A permit is also needed, and you are subject to other county rules and laws regarding animal cruelty. The state says shooting the animals is legal, but not recommended given liability issues.
Kauai
But Hawaii’s land-based wildlife is pretty benign. There are no predators, so the most dangerous creature you could encounter on a hike through Maui’s wilderness might be a startled wild pig or a centipede —which can give a painful sting, but it won’t kill you. No one has ever been maimed by a centipede .
It was the pineapple industry that kept hummingbirds out of Hawaii . Hummingbirds are pollinators of pineapple. If pineapple gets pollinated, it sets seed. The very hard seeds get in the way of people eating pineapple, so the plantation owners led to hummingbirds being banned and quarantined.
The best time to visit Kauai is between September and November or from April to June, when the weather is pleasant and airfare and hotel rates drop.
Snakes are illegal in Hawaii . They have no natural predators here and pose a serious threat to Hawaii’s environment because they compete with native animal populations for food and habitat. Many species also prey on birds and their eggs, increasing the threat to endangered native birds.
Instead of controlling the rat population, the mongooses preferred to prey on birds, pretty much devastating the native bird population. Seeing a mongoose in Hawaii is about as common as seeing a squirrel on the mainland, they’re everywhere. The local mongoose population has discovered our chickens .
There is absolutely nothing categorically inedible about these birds–despite all the clap-trap swirling around about chickens “tough as an old boot,” or the joke about the recipe for cooking a wild chicken (“put it in a pot of boiling water with a rock, and when the rock is tender the chicken is done”).
Niihau
A pellet gun will kill a chicken as long as the shot is made directly from behind to the base of the chicken’s skull. A . 22 caliber pellet gun shooting upwards of 1000 fps is ideal, but . Also, learning how to shoot them perfectly is one of the keys to a successful slaughter.
Maui has reportedly seen a rise in its feral chicken population in recent years. Common theories hold that the birds escaped from chicken farms, either on their own or in the disarray brought by large storms. And the wild chickens ‘ impact on daily life can be wide-ranging.
Well as local lore goes, the hurricanes of 1982 (Iwa) and 1992 (Iniki) destroyed domestic coops, releasing the chickens into the jungles. These domesticated birds then mated with the wild red junglefowl (brought to the islands by the Polynesian) resulting in the feral chickens we see today.
Yes, you can eat eggs from the wild chickens on the island of Kauai if you want to. If you want to look at the positive, there are a few reasons why it’s a good idea. The first is that free-range eggs , which is what wild eggs are, generally taste better. The second reason is that they ‘re free.