raising wild chicks

[starfire2rav]

I live on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, and it is filled with wild chickens. Does anyone know if it would be possible to keep chicks that were born and partially raised wild? Any response would be nice.

 

[txcarl1258]

I don't see why not. They may not be lap birds, but I bet they would be very hardy. When I was in High School I had several American Game chickens and they were practically wild. The hens would brood and raise their chicks in the yard with little human interaction. Sounds like it is worth a try.

 

[eggseroneous]

I have seen others post here from Hawaii that are doing the exact thing. You may want to do a search for "Hawaii" and see what comes up. Best of luck to you! I think it would be such fun!
Oh, and

from Pennsylvania!

 

[emilysteng]

Hi there! I live on Oahu and have recently become obsessed with chickens! All this due to one wild chicken (Casino) who befriended us a little over a year ago. Now she has two chicks of her own going on three weeks old and I am enjoying taking care of them! They are still wild and momma chicken is bringing them up, I'm just helping. I've posted here a lot quite recently about them, if you are interested in anything. I believe on Kauai there aren't mongoose? So that is a big help.. That is a big worry for me with the young chicks.

I'm not sure why my chicken was friendly with people, as most of the wild chickens around scream and run when we're around. But she just showed up one day - she was still quite young, and has hung around ever since. A few months ago another chicken did the same thing and she comes every morning for some food and treats, then disappears the rest of the day.

Here she is with her babies resting this morning. This was right before another mongoose scare. But everyone's ok.

I can pick up the chicks and hold them pretty easily. But they don't like it. I can pet Casino without a fuss while she's eating. I can pick her up too, though she doesn't like it either. But it's so much fun!

If you're interested in eggs, I guess you'd have to coop them up. Otherwise you will have to hunt for the eggs. We have had a few of Casino's eggs, but one time she disappeared for a few weeks and I'm assuming she was sitting on eggs somewhere we couldn't find her. If you just want chickens for fun, she pretty much shows up whenever we call for food and treats and for help hunting for geckos.

 

[midd2005]

i'm sure it's possible, but the trick is catching them first. it's possible that the mom won't care for that too much.

i too live on oahu and am obsessed with chickens. there are roads i like to drive because i know there are usually chickens to be spotted. (kapaa quarry rd in kailua anyone?) i've been known to pull over to have a closer look at them. i love them so much. they never let me get anywhere near them. however, i've heard that this is a place where people let their unwanted birds go free so maybe that's the sorta thing that happened with Casino. perhaps she was someone's unwanted pet and that's why she lets you get close to her and her babies?

 

[emilysteng]

I've always wondered where she came from. She is Kaneohe (where i work). Our other chicken seemed to just appear one day. Went to eat lunch - and there she was squawking at us. Where is this place you are talking about?

My friend thinks people come and drop them off. Some people down the road raise roosters (for fighting

) and she thinks they may get rid of hens? Who knows.

 

[midd2005]

kapaa quarry is a road just off the saddle road that runs under the H3. so if you are driving down kaneohe bay drive and go up the hill to the saddle road and back down, it's your first right before you hit oneawa to head across kailua. kapaa quarry rd. spits out the other side on the Pali. it's hard for me to imagine that people are releasing hens into the wild because they just want fighting cocks.

off kapaa quarry i usually see a mixture of hens and roosters.

my husband works over on Makalapa base across from pearl harbor, and there is a pretty rooster that lives right around the guard house there. he is sortof a base mascot. he is named Fred, and he recently acquired a girlfriend, which is nice i think. sad to see chickens alone. every time i'm over there i see them. i love it.

 

[yomama]

I don't see why you couldn't. It's done all the time with cats. I have a kitty, whose mama was feral. Mango, my kitty, was taken from the mom at about 6 weeks old, so she was raised feral for awhile. However, at 5 years old, she is still pretty skiddish to people, but not that bad towards me. I realize chickens aren't cats, but it's not like you are trying to raise wild bears. Many offspring to all different kinds of animals are able to be raised in captivity, I don't see why you couldn't to that with chickens. Good luck!

BTW, I've only been to Hawaii once, visiting all the different islands, and I have to say, Kauai is my abosolute favorite. It was so calm and peaceful where we went, not a touristy place. No offense to any of the other islands.

 

[emilysteng]

Yeah, it would probably be quite difficult to catch the baby chicks. I don't know, if you find one who has a large number - like 10 or 11, you could probably catch a few. You'd probably be helping them out, cause I noticed the wild chickens always start with like 10 chicks and end up with only 1-3 in the end. We watched this one recently - a hen who looked alot like Casino - started with 11 one day, 8 a few days later, down to 5, down to 3 and ended up with only one who is probably about 2 months old now.

I drive on the Pali to go home everyday and see the same little group hanging out on the side. Recently on Kam Hwy on my way home - the section right before you get to the Pali, I've been seeing a lone rooster. He needs to get a girlfriend.

There are some silkies also. I think they are someone's pets, but I have seen them walking down the sidewalk before on Kam Hwy.

Yeah, I didn't those cock fighting people would drop off hens either, but who knows. When she showed up she was really young. We were working (it's a plant nursery) and there was this little chicken walking around right behind us. And then she was there everyday. So we started giving her some bread and stuff, and that's how my chicken obsession began..... I guess it will be a mystery forever as to where she came from.

 

[InsaneBreeder]

I'm on the Big Island, and I have three ferals that were approximately 2-3 months old when I got them. They are still extremely wild and I can hardly ever catch two of them, but one is becoming friendlier, and all of them will come to me if I have food. They are at the bottom of the pecking order and they tend to keep to themselves when they are with my other chickens. They just recently started laying and I am hoping to use them as broodies and also to breed them to a gigantic hybrid rooster I have to incorporate their hardiness and tendency to go broody into his size and temperament.