The hen refuses to return “his babies” : it is clear that the maternal instinct is very strong in nature. When an animal sees helpless babies, it sometimes forgets that they belong to another species and takes care of them as if they were its own. It’s a kind of adoption, which occurs quite often in natureeven from predator to prey.
This story takes place on a farm where there are different kinds of animals ranging from cows to cats, chickens and a hen with a special maternal instinct. The farmer walked into his barn and saw one of his hens warming up her nest with a few “chicks” on the inside. He didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Indeed, he didn’t notice anything unusual or that caught his eye that day; in his eyes, it was a hen preparing to hatch her eggs.
Normally, hens heat their nest before incubating the eggs and then keep them warm for several weeks until they hatch. Then they keep brooding when they are small to keep them at the right temperature and keep them alive without problems. But this time, the hen was not taking care of the babies of her own kind.
A hen refuses to return the kittens to their original mother.
To put it into context, there are several cats on the farm and one of them gave birth a short time ago, but he gave birth in the hen’s own nest as she was not there. When the hen returned to her nest and saw the kittens, she thought they were helpless creatures in need of protection and immediately felt a deep love.
The hen now found herself caring for the cat’s babies, but she was convinced that these babies belonged to her and were under her protection. The hen categorically refused to return “her little ones” and the cat was desperate to get her kittens back. Surely she must have regretted having gave birth to her babies in this nest.
The poor hen didn’t understand the situation, she didn’t understand why a cat was trying to snatch the kittens away from her; she was convinced that these little ones were of the same species. Maternal instinct does not classify, but only pushes to keep those considered helpless safe. The mother cat was also worried, because her litter was unapproachable.
As comforting as it may be to see the maternal instinct at work, it must be understood that the cat and the hen both love these babies, and leaving them that way was not the solution. The hen refuses to return the kittens, but maybe with an ingenious idea, the situation could be resolved. In order for her to leave the kittens behind, the hen would have to have her own chicks.
And so it was, the hen’s hour came and she had her own little ones. Even though she was incredibly attached to the little kittens that didn’t belong to her, she then let them go to find their mother. She was going to take care of her own little ones now. She just wanted to give love without limits. She wanted to care and protect even though they were of different species, maternal instinct is one of the most beautiful things in the world.
Today, kittens and chicks grow up healthy and strong and there are no more arguments about it, both mothers are happy and there are no hard feelings between these beautiful animals. Everything ended well for them and their little ones!
