In Bothell, wild chickens have a place to let their feathers down

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published October 9, 2001

BOTHELL -- They bully pigeons, chase dogs twice their size and scream so loudly some say their cries can be heard a half mile away.

They're wild chickens, and they strut a stretch of a popular trail east of Seattle as if it were their turf and no one else's.

They're not your average barnyard variety. Their feathers are vivid shades of blue and green. Some have tail feathers as long as peacocks. Others have bright yellow feet. And, they're big.

"The size of a bucket of Col. Sanders," Mary Stadler, a neighbor who lives about six blocks from Bothell's Sammamish River Trail, told The Seattle Times.

No one's sure how the 50 to 75 feral chickens made it to this quarter-mile section of the trail near a parking lot off state Route 522.

Poultry farms were common in the Bothell area until the mid-20th century.

Some surmise the chickens were unwanted gifts someone dropped off at the trail until it earned a reputation as a dumping and breeding ground for the birds.

Sue Kienast, president of the Bothell Historical Museum, said wild chickens have probably roamed the trail since the early 1990s. King County park officials say the colony dates back to the early 1980s, if not earlier.

"They're always here," said Thom Ramsey, 45, and a Redmond resident who's been biking the trail for eight years.

Bikers dodge the chickens, dogs lurch at them, and joggers hardly notice them. People feed them, though park officials discourage it.

When Bothell resident Cindy Allemeier visits the trail to feed bread to the ducks, though, she makes sure she doesn't dole out any morsels to the chickens.

"They used to chase my nieces," Allemeier said.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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