Police say a large number of chickens were found in two separate incidents in Brooklyn.

The first incident occurred on Winthrop Street and Troy Avenue around 8:30 p.m. on Friday. John Di Leonardo, with Humane Long Island, was one of the groups that responded.

“The living birds were in very rough condition. Some had broken bones. They were very dehydrated," said Di Leonardo.

Just a day later, on Saturday, police say there were about 11 crates of chickens, both alive and dead, found on St. John's Place in Crown Heights. Julie Seyfried says her foster dog Tanuki alerted her to the truck.

“He was pulling towards the noise of the chickens, the smell of the chickens. He was a little startled. He seemed confused as to what was going on. And then he was kind of looking at me like, what are we going to do now? We discovered chickens in cages, in the back of this U-Haul van. And we were very disturbed and very distraught," said Seyfried.

Di Leonardo says the group tries to keep an eye out for abandoned chickens this time of year.

“The first truck had a sign on it that said 'Kaporos on-the-go.' It had papers with the prayer of atonement. So we knew this was related to the use of chickens as Kaporos, which is a pre-Yom Kippur custom where chickens are circled around the head and then slaughtered," said Di Leonardo.

Rina Deych is an advocate with Kaporos Compassion Project, which focuses on rescuing chickens from this practice. Deych says it is by no means a widely practiced thing.

“Those who did the ritual, which is, by the way, not mandated. It's not in the Torah or the Talmud. They used money. They swung money and said the passage and then donated it to charity. That’s what most Jews do. The most important thing that it violates is servant Tza’ar ba’alei chayim, which is the mandate not to cause unnecessary harm to animals," said Deych.

Di Leonardo says the chickens are being triaged and then put up for adoption.

The NYPD did not confirm whether they were investigating the incidents and instances of animal cruelty.