Honolulu officials are urging residents and visitors to stop feeding Oahu’s booming feral chicken population, warning that the birds are damaging property, disrupting neighborhoods and creating sanitation concerns by leaving droppings throughout public and private spaces.
According to City and County officials, the chickens have become a persistent nuisance across the island. They crow around the clock, roam through residential areas, tear up lawns and gardens, and can even provoke household pets.
To discourage the practice, the city has launched a public awareness campaign. Signs posted at parks and on public transportation carry a simple message: “Do Not Feed Feral Chicken.”
Officials have also released an animated public service announcement outlining the problem and placed traps around the island to capture the birds.
However, those efforts have been hampered by people tampering with or vandalizing the traps, HawaiiNewsNow reported.
“While crews are actively trapping feral chickens and putting up educational signage, this is an issue the city simply cannot tackle alone,” Department of Customer Services Director Kim Hashiro said.
“We need every segment of our community – from residents to business owners – to help us by not feeding these birds and letting our pest-control teams do their jobs safely.”
Oahu residents have complained about the feral chicken problem for years, and some have previously called on state lawmakers to intervene.
In 2022, Hawaii lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 2195, which would have provided state funding to address the issue. The bill failed to move forward.
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Residents who supported the legislation told lawmakers about the damage the birds had caused to their homes and neighborhoods.
“As a property owner, it’s frustrating to have to battle the feral fowl that have been so destructive of our yard and gardens,” Robert Peine, of Aiea, wrote.
“Further, their chicken poop is everywhere and is not only unhygienic, but very foul smelling and unsightly! In addition, we find ourselves having to constantly dodge the chickens roaming the street and in Waimalu, Aiea, there are times we’ve counted clusters of 12-15 chickens in the middle of the roadway.”
Maria White, also of Aiea, said communities need “immediate assistance from the government to either displace these wild chickens out to the countryside (farms, etc.) or to eradicate them.”
“The wild chickens are a very serious noise nuisance, create a filthy mess everywhere and have already damaged, multiple times, our yard and garden and that of my neighbors and they need to be removed or eradicated so that we can regain our communities,” White said.
Another resident pointed to Hawaii’s illegal cockfighting industry, arguing that lenient penalties enable breeders to abandon unwanted birds in residential areas.
“Current laws have no deterrent effect, as most are misdemeanors, with insignificant fines of no more than $250,” Bonnie Gollero wrote.
“Unless cock fighting ends, ferals will always resurface, as breeders will continue to reinfest neighborhoods with their rejects.”
In Hawaii, cockfighting is classified as a misdemeanor rather than a felony.
It remains unclear whether residents, tourists or both are driving the feeding problem—or how much each group has contributed to the island’s expanding flock.