15 crates of live chickens fall off truck in DUMBO

Hens at BQE entrance ramp mystify drivers

May 6, 2024 Mary Frost

This screen grab captured from surveillance video supplied by Eric Han shows the poultry truck driving away Monday morning, the driver unaware that crates of live chickens were laying in the middle of Old Fulton Street. Photo: Eric Han

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DUMBO/FULTON FERRY— Roughly 15 crates of live chickens slid off the back of a poultry truck on Old Fulton Street in DUMBO on Monday morning, blocking the Cadman Plaza ramp to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and causing a flap.

A few of the crates cracked open, allowing the poultry a few moments of sweet, sweet freedom, witnesses told the Brooklyn Eagle.

The mystery of where the chickens came from captivated New Yorkers on Monday. “Everyone wants to know about the chickens!” a police spokesperson told the Eagle. The 911 call came in around 5:43 a.m., she said.

The manager of the Arabica coffee shop at 20 Old Fulton St. (he asked to be identified only as John) said he saw a trucker retrieving a loose chicken at the entrance ramp to the BQE around 9:15 a.m. Monday. “They were chickens trying to cross the road,” he said.

Surveillance video supplied by Eric Han, manager of New Xcell Auto Repair Center on Old Fulton St., shows crates of chickens flying out the back of a poultry trailer Monday morning. Video: Eric Han

Luckily for the public, Eric Han, manager of the New Xcell Auto Repair Center at 60 Old Fulton St. captured the whole chicken caper on surveillance video.

Loading a chicken truck is a two-man job, he said. “One of the guys who was supposed to put a pole in the back forgot, and the driver didn’t double check. He drove, and every time he stopped at a light and gave gas to go, more chickens fell out the back.”

The video he shared with the Eagle shows roughly six crates of flapping white hens sliding out the back of the poultry trailer as it accelerated forward after stopping for a traffic light.

The truck dropped chickens at every traffic light starting from the westernmost end of Old Fulton Street, Han said. “This happened like five times. A cop told me it went all the way up to Sands Street. By the time he got to where he was going, half the chickens in the truck were missing. He looped back around with a nearly-empty truck.” Police helped the driver load the crates back onto the truck, he said.

Some of the chickens escaped, Han said. “There were a handful of crates that cracked open when they hit the ground. I saw him chasing around a couple of chickens … I’m sure there’s still some chickens running around here.”

Han added, “This whole street smelled like a farm.