Frenchwoman’s TikTok Sparks Questions About Singapore’s ‘Rent-Free’ Roosters
A Frenchwoman living in Singapore has unintentionally reopened a familiar national conversation after posting a TikTok video on 12 October asking a question many locals have heard before:
“Why are there so many roosters living rent-free in the streets of Singapore?”
Audrey Thiloy — known online as “Your fave ang moh in Singapore” — said she sees more roosters here than in France, despite the rooster being her home country’s official symbol.
In her clip, she even filmed herself chasing a rooster while clucking loudly, setting off a wave of light-hearted reactions.
TikTok Users Joke About Nests, Chicken Rice & Early-Morning Wake-Up Calls
TikTok users quickly matched the comedic energy of her post.
Some revived the age-old riddle: “Egg first or chicken come first?”
Others were more puzzled: “Where do the chickens sleep?” Audrey herself replied, “Exactly! Like, where do they sleep?”
A few poked fun at her clucking — apparently closer to a turkey call — while another user asked about Singapore’s most famous food.
Audrey answered with chicken-and-rice emojis.
And then came the lines that would prove prophetic days later: “We don’t need alarm clock.”
A Chicken Literally Becomes Someone’s Alarm Clock
That joke became unexpectedly real on 26 November, when Instagram page Singapore Incidents posted a video captioned: “Awake from sleep cos chicken making noise outside my window.”
The clip showed a lone chicken outside someone’s window before sunrise, chattering and clucking loudly in the dark — performing a very literal role as a neighbourhood alarm.
It was the exact scenario TikTok users commented about.
Another Viral Clip Shows Mother Hen & Chicks Crossing a Road
A separate clip posted in September by Instagram user @kaysnote captured a mother hen in the middle of a neighbourhood road, guiding her baby chicks across while passers-by helped ensure they weren’t hit by oncoming cars.
The video, titled “What you can see in Singapore — Wild Chicken in the Neighbourhood,” showed yet another side of the city’s free-roaming fowls: not just noisy, not just chaotic — but fully at home in the urban landscape.
Why So Many Chickens? One Commenter Offers a Simple Answer
Amid all the jokes, one user attempted a factual explanation.
Singapore’s tropical rainforest environment, they said, is still a natural habitat for wild junglefowl.
Domesticated thousands of years ago, chickens became urban animals in most countries — but in Singapore, many remain normal birds of the wild.
And, as noted by @untamed_paths, the Red Junglefowl, ancestor of domestic chickens, continues to thrive in pockets of Singapore’s forests and parks. Once uncommon, it has made a notable comeback across the island.
Which may explain why they roam, nest, cross roads, startle pedestrians, and wake up entire households… all while, as Audrey would put it, “living rent-free.”
Watch the video here:
@audreythiloy I see more roosters in 🇸🇬 than in France where rooster is the official symbol 😮 #sgtiktok #tiktoksg #singapore #rooster
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