Butler police investigated some fowl play in the city's Island neighborhood Sunday evening.

Eight chickens got loose from a rear yard at a Negley Avenue home, ruffling the feathers of some of the neighbors.

And why did some of the chickens cross the road? To get away from a pair of dogs that also got loose from the same fenced-in backyard.

The mass escape about 7 p.m. sent residents and neighborhood children on a wild-goose chase trying to coral the birds, police said.

One neighbor, a police report said, got "pecked" for his trouble.

It seems it all started when the two dogs got loose from their home, where the residents were away on vacation.

A man was able to get one of the strays and return it to its yard.

But almost immediately, the dog chased the eight chickens out a hole in the fence. Both dogs started to hound the chickens about the neighborhood.

The same man nabbed one of the chickens and got it back to its home but not before getting a peck on his hand.

And soon enough, the police report said, the chicken again escaped and joined the other seven birds already being chased by the dogs and neighborhood boys and girls.

A goat, meanwhile, cooped up in the same yard, managed to stay put. But neighbors reported the goat was "not being watered or fed," the report said.

Police said they plan to take up the case with the city's code enforcement officer.