Zayn Malik no longer names his pet chickens after he was left heartbroken when his beloved feathered friend died in his arms.

As well as opening up about the trials and tribulations of his One Direction exit and fame in his first interview in six years, Zayn opened up about his serious attachment to his chickens.

Revealing the animals he keeps, Zayn - who has two-year-old daughter Khai with his ex-partner Gigi Hadid - told the 'Call Her Daddy' podcast: “I have three cats, three dogs… three turtles, six chickens."

The 30-year-singer was so worried about his poorly chicken that he took her to the vets, even though it's not normal for surgeries to treat the birds.

Zayn admitted it was "kind of funny" the thought of him taking the chicken to the vet, but he was devastated and couldn't stop crying on the way there.

Recalling the tragic incident with his favourite fowl, he added: “I took my chicken to the vet to get a scan because something was wrong with her.

“The vet laughed at me and said ‘People don’t bring chickens here’. They still charged me for an X-Ray and then I took my chicken all the way home and cried. She died in my arms.”

Zayn and supermodel Gigi have been raising their little girl between the catwalk beauty's New York apartment and the singer’s farm in Pennsylvania on The Hadid Farm.

The 'I Don't Wanna Live Forever' hitmaker - who makes his solo comeback with the new single 'Love Like This' on July 21 - also shared what he and his daughter like to do when they are together and how he's "rekindled" his own "childhood" through Khai.

He said: “I spend my day with her doing things she wants to do, painting, play-doh, go to the park, go to the theme park, go to the zoo. We just have fun. I feel like I've rekindled my own childhood through her. She's brought that colour back for me."

Zayn and Gigi co-parent their daughter and the pop star makes every moment they share together count.

He said: "The crazy thing is obviously I have her 50 per cent of the time, so that time I have with her is so important because I feel like she's growing up so fast. So when I'm with her, I don't work, like at all."