26 Nov Helen + the Jets

Kaua’i is full of wild chickens. There’s an almost endless background noise of roosters crowing. Here at the farm, if any wild chickens get too comfortable, they are humanely trapped and released a few miles away to keep them from interfering with plants (usually they tear up keiki beds & plants). However, we arrived to find a hen and her brood of 10 chicks, roughly 2-3 months old strutting around. We learned that Helen (the mother hen) was living on the farm and fed some pancakes by farm volunteers  — and realized she must stay close to the human-food source! She’s since figured out how to stick to bug-eating, and even learned her name! On our first day here, Jiva shouted to Helen to “get out of there!” and she dutifully exited the fresh beds with her chicks in close tow behind her. There’s a hope that some of her young hens might be able to stay and begin laying eggs for us!

We also just discovered another new hen on the farm today with a very fresh brood of baby chicks! I’ll try to get photos of them soon.