Hawaii’s Feral Chickens: Backyard Pest, Unlikely Entrée

The crowing begins long before sunrise outside Mason Aiona’s home in Honolulu, but the 3 a.m. wake-up calls aren’t what frustrate him most. It’s the rest of the day—chasing wild chickens out of his yard, coping with nonstop squawking and flapping, and confronting park-goers who toss food to the feral birds just steps from his house.

“It’s a big problem,” he told the Associated Press, describing chickens roaming between his property and the nearby city park. “And they’re multiplying.”

Across Hawaii, communities have struggled for years with booming feral chicken populations. Honolulu officials have spent thousands trapping the birds, with little success. Now state lawmakers are weighing new approaches—among them allowing residents to kill feral chickens, classifying them as a “controllable pest” on public land in Honolulu, and fining people who feed or release them in parks.

But what some see as a nuisance, others view as a cultural emblem—a tension also seen in Miami and other places with large wild chicken populations. Kealoha Pisciotta, a Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner and animal advocate, opposes killing the birds simply because they’re bothersome. She notes that some modern chickens descend from those brought by early Polynesian voyagers.

“The moa is very significant,” she said, using the Hawaiian word for chicken. “They were on our voyaging, came with us.”

The Hawaiian Humane Society likewise opposes allowing residents to kill feral chickens for population control unless other methods have been exhausted.

Past attempts to pass eradication bills have fallen short, said Scot Matayoshi, a Democratic lawmaker representing the Honolulu suburb of Kaneohe who supports reducing the birds’ numbers. “I think there are people who are taking it more seriously now,” he said.

Even so, wild chickens aren’t likely to become a cheap food source. Their meat is tougher than farm-raised poultry, and feral birds can carry disease.

Aiona, meanwhile, is weary of spending his retirement asking park visitors to stop feeding the flocks. He doesn’t recommend eating them—but he has a standing offer for anyone willing to take one away.

“No charge,” he said.

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