Pasir Ris residents band together & spend hours rescuing 3 chicks that fell into drain

Xavier Ji, a Pasir Ris resident, was on his way home from tuition when he witnessed the peril of the neighbourhood hen's three babies at about 5:30pm on Jul. 7.

The three chicks, small enough to fit through the gaps of the grate, had unfortunately fallen into the drain.

A mother's cries

Witnessing her babies' plight, the mother hen loitered around the drains while letting out exasperated clucks.

Speaking to Mothership, Ji described the mother hen to be "frantic and made a lot of noise".

On top of his love for chickens, the hen's desperate cries spurred him to take action.

Ji approached the drain where the chicks had fallen into and carefully lifted the metal drain cover.

Little did he know it would aggravate the situation.

The movement caused the three chicks to scurry further into the drain, making it even harder to reach them.

Many helping hands on deck

In a video that Ji shared, the drain appeared to be extremely narrow and dark.

Without a flashlight, this made the one-man mission all the more difficult.

Several residents and passers-by were drawn to the scene as Ji struggled to reach the chicks in the drain.

One by one, people stopped to lend Ji a helping hand.

In search of the chicks, the residents lifted the covers of other drain openings as well.

The mother hen continued clucking loudly as residents attempted to rescue her babies.

The rescue

Residents also provided household tools like brooms and torchlights that could aid the operation.

Ji and another resident then helped to hold the cover open as a third resident, Shanith, ventured into the narrow drain.

While Ji shone a torchlight into the darkness of the drain, Shanith inched his way deeper into the drain, as others stood at the opposite end of the drain in an attempt to scare the chicks in the direction of Shanith.

Eventually, the first chick was "scooped out with a broom", Ji explained to Mothership.

Ji relayed that rescuing the first chick "took a huge amount of time and effort".

However, the success of getting it out of the drain provided a huge morale boost to the residents on site.

"Our hopes were lifted when the first one was rescued as we knew it was possible," Ji said.

Ji told Mothership, "The [second] chick was stuck in a T-junction and [it was] around a bend."

This made it impossible to reach the chick with a broom, like they had done with the first chick.

After spending a long time coaxing the second chick, it eventually hopped out of the drain and caught by residents.

Last chick stuck in drain underneath van

Lastly, the final chick was positioned in a drain directly underneath a parked white van, Ji shared.

This was a problem as it meant that they could not reach into the drain to get the chick out.

The chick also appeared to be "[too] exhausted to move".

Ji also shared a video of the mother hen standing atop the white van, apparently waiting for her baby to be rescued.

Fortunately, one of residents gathered there knew the owner of the van and contacted him.

The owner then swiftly got to the scene to move the van away.

With the van out of the way, residents were able to get to the third chick in no time.

"It was super heart-warming to see everyone come out and help us," Ji noted the residents' efforts.

The entire rescue operation took about three hours.

Ji also commended Shanith in particular, who had crawled as deep as halfway into the drain and was the one who had managed to catch all three chicks.

He also relayed his appreciation for another passer-by, Kelly, who stayed to provide her help throughout the entire tedious rescue process.

A reunited family of four

The operation officially wrapped up at 10:30pm when a contractor deployed by the National Parks Board (NParks) arrived to collect the chicken family.

In a video that Ji shared, the rescued chicks and their mother were seen resting on a grass patch.

Ji and the contractor then worked alongside each other to place them in a container one by one.

The contractor "did an awesome job at handling the chickens. It was done with care and concern", Ji described.

He believes that the family of four have been transported to Pasir Ris Park to be released.

As he expressed his pleasure in being a part of this rescue mission, Ji relayed to Mothership, "We couldn't have done it without all the help from our neighbours."

Top photos courtesy of Xavier Ji