STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Live chickens "fowled" traffic when they fell off a truck on Hylan Boulevard in Grasmere on Wednesday morning.

About 30 crates of live chickens tumbled from a truck and landed on the road and the sidewalk at Steuben Street and Hylan Boulevard about 7:15 a.m.

Most of the chickens were secure in their crates, but some escaped and were walking around and at least one lay injured on the sidewalk.

There was no truck on the scene, and it's possible the driver didn't even know they fell off.

NYPD officers were on location to direct traffic on Hylan Boulevard and detain any possible escapees.

Crates of live chickens were blocking the right lanes of Steuben and Hylan Boulevard. A crate filled with the birds also landed on the sidewalk near the MTA bus stop on Hylan Boulevard.

The chickens inside the crates were clucking and some appeared to be injured.

Ida Bedalino of Port Richmond happened upon the chickens as she was driving on Hylan Boulevard headed toward a blood center. She parked her car and then rescued one bird that was in the street.

"He got loose," Ms. Bedalino said of the chicken that she was holding and petting.

"He's content. I named him Santana after one of the police officers."

Ms. Bedalino was upset about the way that the chickens were transported, especially that they were stuffed into crates.

"This is terrible what they do to these chickens, keeping them in crates like that," Ms. Bedalino said. "This stuff should stop.

"I don't like the way they crowd chickens into containers and that they kill them to eat."

"I think a lot of these guys are hurt," said Officer Santana about the chickens. "You've got to care for these chickens who are God's creation."

The NYPD tracked down the owner and by about 9:45 a.m., the crates of chickens were loaded onto an NYPD trailer. The chickens were transported back to the 122 Precinct stationhouse in New Dorp where they were to be picked up by the owner, according to police sources.