Normally when there’s a cat in the hen house, it’s time to panic. But this time it was a very different story. A farmer was out making his rounds when he stopped by the hen house to collect the day’s eggs. He noticed one of the hen’s behavior seemed somehow odd. She was sitting on something, eggs, you’d assume, but really didn’t want to budge. So the farmer gently moved the hen aside and to his surprise discovered she’d been sitting on a tiny black and white kitten! The kitten appeared to be only a few days old and actually looked pretty comfortable snuggled up in a straw bed underneath a warm hen. What probably happened is that the kitten 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 gawping at this unexpected kitten, the hen was becoming visibly nervous and was obviously anxious to get back to roosting above her furry “chick.” Strange though it was, 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 this hen and her kitten. Many people who’ve seen it have expressed concern for the kitten’s well-being. After all, a tiny kitten needs mother’s milk. The hen can provide warmth and security, but only a mother 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 a first-rate farm cat, keeping mice and other vermin away and (hopefully) playing nicely with the hens.
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