Thousands of chickens died after a lorry overturned on a highway, authorities in the central German city of Magdeburg said on Thursday.

Traffic was disrupted toward the nearby city of Braunschweig as chickens were roaming freely on and alongside the road.

Most of the birds did not survive the crash

It was not immediately clear what made the vehicle tip onto its side, spilling 15 tons of cargo. The truck was carrying roughly 5,200 birds.

The driver was unharmed, veterinary authorities and firefighters were called in to capture and care for the animals.

District officials later said that nearly 75% of the animals did not survive the accident and its aftermath. Many of them had to be culled as a result of injuries sustained in the accident.

A section of the A36 highway was still closed as of late afternoon on Thursday.

The number of eggs produced by large-scale farms in Germany increased to 13.7 billion in 2024, according to the German Federal Office for Statistics (Destatis).

There were around 45.3 million egg-laying hens in 2024, with each hen laying an average of 302 eggs.

In Germany, fewer than a quarter of chickens (23.6%) were free-range, with the majority (58%) being kept in barns and 4.3% held in cages.

Edited by: Sean Sinico