Bothell’s wild chickens rule Sammamish Trail

Associated Press

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 the popular Sammamish River Trail 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 make no mistake: They’re big.

"The size of a bucket of Colonel Sanders," said Mary Stadler, a neighbor who lives about six blocks the trail.

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 Highway 522. Some surmise the chickens were unwanted gifts someone dropped off. But Sue Kienast, president of the Bothell Historical Museum, said wild chickens have probably roamed the trail since the early 1990s, when the area had numerous poultry farms.

King County park officials say the colony dates back to the early 1980s, if not earlier.

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

"It doesn’t seem odd to me because I’m so used to them," Ramsey added.

Bikers dodge the chickens, dogs lurch at them and joggers hardly notice them. People feed them, although 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.

One person brought the birds a doghouse. Others have built lean-tos along the trail.

"I think they’re wonderful," said Lou Ann Skinner, who keeps bird seed in her car to feed the birds in the winter. "You usually hear the roosters crowing as you go along. Cock-a-doodle DOO!"