Extras
Kauai Chickens are one of the signature symbols of Kauai. They are everywhere on the island, from the moment you step out of the airport to the morning wake up call at your accommodations. So what’s up with all these chickens, and why are some more colorful than others?
Red Jungle Fowl chickens at Kokee Lodge.
If you’ve traveled around the island of Kauai you may have noticed that some moa (chickens) in the mountains of the Kokee State Park area are more colorful than chickens found in more urban areas. These Red Jungle Fowl chickens are descendants of the original birds brought to Hawaii by early Polynesian settlers approximately 800-1000 years ago. Originally native to Southeast Asia, the unique birds were prevalent on all of the Hawaiian Islands when Captain Cook arrived in 1778. Today, the moa are found throughout the island of Kauai, but particularly in the Kokee area and other outlying areas. They can be identified by their beautiful plumages of red, gold, orange, white, black and green metallic.
A variety of Kauai Chickens at Haena Beach Park.
After Captain Cook’s discovery and subsequent colonization of the islands, the moa interbred with imported chickens from around the world. The interbreeding has resulted in a variety of chickens to be found around the island, with the isolated moa of the Kokee area retaining more of their Red Jungle Fowl DNA. Unfortunately, the Red Jungle Fowl is slowly losing its genetic identity as interbreeding continues, an issue not only on Kauai but also in its native Asian habitat.
Chickens, including Red Jungle Fowl chickens, awaiting handouts from tourists at the Kokee Lodge.
As a key component of a rural island lifestyle, chickens were common on all of the Hawaiian Islands in the 1800s and into the early 1900s. However, mongooses were brought to the other islands (except for Kauai) in the late 1800s to control rat populations in the sugar cane fields. The invasive mongoose devastated the chicken populations by eating their eggs. When a crate of mongooses was sent to Kauai, so the legend goes, a mongoose bit a dock person and they were subsequently drowned out of anger. Without a natural predator, the chickens on Kauai continued to flourish.
Read more about Kauai Chickens in our Winter 2024 Digital Edition of Kauai Magazine.
