Drivers in the USA have been left stunned after dozens of chickens escaped a lorry transporting them and ended up piled up all over the road.

The chickens reportedly jumped out of the vehicle all at once after it stopped on Roseville Boulevard in the city of Chattanooga, in the US state of Tennessee.

Some of them were reportedly run over and killed immediately after ending up on the road on Monday morning, 27th November.

Driver Jessica White from the town of Jasper, who witnessed the incident, said she immediately pulled out her camera to record the scene.

She added that not all drivers slowed down to let the chickens cross the road and reach safety.

Jessica explained: “I mean, it was just nuts. It was obvious that there was a truck that they must have fallen out over something, you know, but it was, it was shocking to see that’s for sure.”

Officers from the McKamey Animal Center responded to the scene only to find at least 20 chickens dead. These were removed from the road by the city’s Public Works Department.

White said that she did not see a chicken truck when she drove forward.

Chattanooga Police said they are investigating to determine what happened.

Social media users left an avalanche of comments after the video was shared online.

Facebook user ‘Taylor Daniel’ said: “Dad and I saw this on the way back from dropping my car off but thankfully there wasn’t all of that mess. There were maybe 20 smashed ones.”

While ‘Joshua Wright’ commented: “Sad about them being deceased? They were on the way to slaughter anyways.”

And ‘Carolene Grossnickle Perry’ added: “Clearly, someone did not secure the transport truck correctly. Poultry is usually transported to processing in the dark hours to be less traumatic. This was a failure.”