DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Feral chickens walks across a Noela Drive driveway near Diamond Head. The fowl disturb the neighborhood during the early morning hours, waking up people with their crowing.
Fowled up
Many isle residents
wish the birds would make a
chicken run somewhere else
From condo dwellers in Diamond Head to suburbanites in Hawaii Kai, Oahu communities are squawking about prolific feral fowl taking over their neighborhoods.
"It's an islandwide issue," said Eve Holt, spokeswoman for the Hawaiian Humane Society.
Three years ago, Gerry Nihipali led the Laie community in a wild chicken roundup offering cash bounties. She was initially deluged with calls from across the island and continues to receive calls for help. "People just want somebody else to get rid of their chickens," Nihipali said.
Now she's writing a booklet on tips she's gathered from those in the know on catching the feathered pests "so nobody has to call me," she said.
Besides the early morning crowing, the feral fowl carry disease, lice and mites and destroy gardens.
"I used to have taro in front of my house, but they dug it all up to get to the worms," said Ben Nihipali Jr., Gerry's husband.
The problem is catching wild fowl with sharp beaks, talons and flapping wings.
The Humane Society doesn't have enough resources to catch the wild chickens. It will pick up trapped birds and lend specially made traps. But there's a four-week wait for the four traps they have.
Linda Wong, who lives on Pualei Circle in the Diamond Head area, said a couple of chicken families live in a culvert behind her condominium on Kanaina and Noela streets.
Wong, a second-floor resident, suffers from migraines triggered by high-pitched noises, like crowing.
"The roosters crow 24/7," she said. "They're keeping everybody up."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Linda Wong said feral chickens live and travel down this culvert on Noela Drive. "The roosters crow 24/7," she said. "They're keeping everybody up."
Neighbors from 13 condominium buildings complain roosters crow as early as 2 a.m., she said.
Wong said police have responded to their noise and nuisance complaints, but can't do anything.
She vows to spend her summer vacation catching the chickens.
One North Shore resident built a 15-foot high fence to keep out chickens, but to no avail. "They fly really good," said Ben Nihipali Jr. "They can go at least 20 to 25 yards before they come back down."
"What it boils down to is, everybody has to take some responsibility to work together to not feed the chickens and to catch them," Gerry Nihipali said.
But not everyone consider them pests.
"People say, 'They're so cute and they're laying eggs on my porch,' and they keep feeding the chickens, so the problem goes on and on," Nihipali said.
Near Kahuku, Gunstock Ranch owner Max Smith uses chickens "to make sure we don't have any centipedes, and they clean up the horse mess by scattering out and eating the grain that passes through the horses."
In Kakaako, the departure of two chickens who lived at a park near Fisher Hawaii saddened the employees.
"They would cross the sidewalk, cruise back and come back and hang out with each other," said Craig Suyama, store manager at Fisher. "We kind of miss them. They were kind of like our mascots."
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Rounding up fowl
Tips from Gerry Nihipali and others to catch feral chickens:>> Sleeping chickens can be hunted at night where they roost by shining a flashlight at them. Put a mophead next to the chicken and it'll hop on. "Be prepared to grab it," Gerry Nihipali said.
>> Another method involves walking a rooster by looping a string around its neck and letting it strut around; hens will follow. "But I haven't seen that done," Nihipali added.
>> A simple box method requires a stick that holds up the box. Once the chicken enters to eat the bait, the string attached to the stick is pulled and the bird is caught.
>> "The best way to catch them is at night," said Ramil Tapado, a salesman at Kaneohe Feed Store. "The problem is they sleep on top of the tree. If you have a scoop net, that's the only way you can catch them. They don't move at night." He also recommends grabbing them by both legs, which immobilizes them.
>> Kilgo's sells humane traps large enough for chickens. A 13-inch-high trap sells for $87.79; a 15-inch high trap for $106.89. Get one any shorter and full-grown chickens will have to duck to get in.
