I just finished reading this entertaining Kauai trip report from Don Quillici of the Nevada Appeal. Though he says he would go back to Kauai in a heartbeat, he was surprised and apparently annoyed by the chickens. Here’s an excerpt on his comical chicken rant:
There are “zillions” wild chickens everywhere you go: Countless numbers of big and little roosters, hens and chicks. All of those birds are the descendants of chickens that escaped when Hurricane Iniki destroyed a number of chicken farms, way back in 1992.
Those darn things are EVERYWHERE. In my less-than-humble opinion, the State Bird of Hawaii should be changed from the graceful Nene Goose to the lowly chicken. It would be a more proper fit!
The roosters crow all day long (what the heck happened to roosters only crowing at dawn?) and the hens cluck all day long. I never dreamt my first trip to Hawaii would involve huge numbers of chickens everywhere we went.
The ultimate irony was the day that we ate a quick lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken, prior to our helicopter ride. We had to wade through a number of chickens in the KFC parking lot to go inside.
Geez, you would think that those stupid, noisy birds would know where NOT to go.
Well, I noticed that there are wild chickens there too, but not by the “zillions”. In my humble opinion, I think he’s exaggerated a bit. Though I did see a chicken here or there in Kauai, I wasn’t annoyed. I just thought it was a bit quirky. 🙂
P.S. Kauai is not the only tropical paradise with wild chickens. I’ve recently returned from Moorea in French Polynesia where chickens ran wild and the roosters thought it was dawn throughout the day. Also, there were many stray dogs there, too. I suppose you have to take the good with the bad sometimes.
Sheila Beal
1 comment
I didn’t think there were zillions either and, personally, I find them kind of amusing. BTW, Bermuda has lots of chickens everywhere too — they even roost on the signs in the main bus terminal at night.