Employees at Perry Morris Square in Milton noticed some unlikely feathered friends Wednesday morning.

Brooke Preston says she saw a couple of chickens walking around the parking lot as she was arriving to work around 8 a.m.

"I saw chickens crossing the road," she said. "They hung out all day long."

Wednesday afternoon, Milton police and animal control officers tried to apprehend the fowl, but they proved elusive.

Preston recorded officers chasing after the chickens in the parking lot of the Tobacco Barn, only for them to dart out of their grasp.

"I thought it was pretty comical," she said. "It added some comical value to our day."

Middle school student Joe Floyd watched the odd scene unfold.

"It juked them out a little bit," Floyd said. "It was weird."

The control officers finally got the chickens netted.

Chief Joe Parsons says an officer drove the chickens to a remote, wooded area and set them loose.

Parsons says employees saw somebody leaving the chickens in the area Wednesday morning and driving off.

Parsons says he's aware of his limitations, so he didn't bother trying to chase the chickens himself.

The chickens, of course, had no idea how close they were to true peril. Next to where they were caught is a Chester's Chicken inside a Piggly Wiggly.