The poultry fell off a truck on road 108 between Perstorp and Oderljunga just after midnight on Friday.
“It is estimated that there are at least 1,000 dead and live hens on and on the side of the road,” wrote police in a report online, which also warned drivers in the area to be careful.
“It's causing quite a lot of problems. There are hens everywhere for around seven kilometres,” police control room officer Magnus Lefèvre told the TT news agency.
The driver appeared not to have noticed that some of his cargo fell off and had simply kept going.
At around 3am police managed to get hold of him and his employer to get help collecting all the birds.
Last week a truck overturned on the E4 motorway near Huskvarna in southern Sweden. Its cargo – toilet seats – fell out and blocked the road, both northbound and southbound, for hours.
The week before that another truck accident made headlines after tonnes of Sweden's favourite, but slippery, potato dish 'potatisgratäng' fell out and covered an iconic road bridge on the High Coast.
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