Normally the presence of a cat in the hen house would be cause for considerable alarm. But this time it was different. A farmer who was out making his rounds stopped by the hen house to collect the day’s eggs. While there, he noticed one of the hens was behaving a bit strangely. She was sitting on something, eggs, you’d assume, but didn’t want to budge. So the farmer gently moved the hen aside and to his astonishment, discovered she’d been sitting on a tiny kitten! The little black and white fur ball looked to be only a few days old and seemed pretty comfortable sleeping on a straw bed underneath a warm hen. Presumably, the kitten had been abandoned and when the hen saw it, her empathy and maternal instincts kicked in and she took the orphan under her wing.
While the farmer was gaping at this astonishing discovery, the hen was becoming visibly nervous and was obviously anxious to get back to roosting above this most unusual “chick.” Strange though it would seem, the arrangement seemed to be working, so the farmer let the hen get back to the business of motherhood.
We’ve posted a video of the hen and her kitten below for you. Many people who’ve seen it have expressed concern for the kitten’s well-being. After all, a tiny kitten like this needs mother’s milk or formula. The hen can provide warmth and security, but only a cat or a human with an eyedropper full of formula can keep the little one fed. We can only assume the farmer saw to this. He’d have had quite a bit of experience bottle feeding baby animals and providing care around the clock. So it’s a good bet this kitten grew up to be an excellent farm cat, keeping mice and other vermin away and (hopefully) playing nicely with the hens.
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https://youtu.be/qWkT8QyWIz8