What will happen when these eggs hatch? Cat becomes surrogate to hen's clutch but let's see how she reacts when the chicks arrive

By ROB PREECE

Busy mother: Lizzy the cat looks after her kittens while sitting on the eggs to keep them warm

Some parents would say that looking after four youngsters is hard enough.
But after giving birth to four kittens in a chicken pen, a stray tabby cat has become an unlikely surrogate mother - to a clutch of hen's eggs.
Lizzy the cat has made herself at home in the pen and now takes turns with the mother hen to look after the unborn chicks by keeping the eggs warm.
Similarly, the hen keeps an eye on the kittens when Lizzy goes out on the prowl.
The bizarre babysitting arrangements have delighted children at Weston St Mary's School in Spalding, Lincolnshire, where the pen is supervised by teaching assistants.
Staff believe the unlikely deal allows both mothers to go out to get food.
But whether the arrangements will continue after the eggs have hatched remains to be seen.

Babysitter: Lizzy the cat has made herself at home in the pen and takes turns with the mother hen to look after the unborn chicks

Angie Bradshaw, 48, the teaching assistant responsible for the school's pets, said the cat and chicken's relationship was 'fascinating'.
The mum-of-four said: "One morning I came in and the cat had had kittens in one of the chicken pens.
'Then I came in the next day and she'd moved them in with the cockerel and hen.
'We couldn't believe it when we saw the cat lying on the chicken's eggs to keep them warm.

My turn: The mother hen takes over babysitting duties and looks after one of Lizzy's kittens

'It is fascinating to see the two of them together. It is like they have communicated somehow and come up with a nanny share idea.
'They take it in turns looking after each other's young. When the chicken goes out the cat moves her kittens and they all sit on the eggs.
'The cat was quite nasty at first, but now she is friendly. We are going to have her neutered and look after her.
'The kittens are beautiful and all the staff and pupils are very excited about the little chicks hatching.
'The children love the animals and it is good for them to learn how to care for them.'

Unusual: The bizarre babysitting arrangements have delighted children at Weston St Mary's School in Spalding, Lincolnshire

source: dailymail

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Gertie becomes Bertie after sudden sex change turns hen into a cockerel

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Confused: Jeanette Howard with Gertie - or should that be Bertie?


An egg-laying hen has stunned its owner by changing sex and turning into a crowing cockerel.

Jeanette Howard, 79, was amazed after one-year-old Gertie grew a distinctive comb and red flaps under its chin.

He - or she - has even started crowing at dawn, so Jeanette now plans to re-name him Bertie.


Characteristic: Gertie has grown a distinctive comb and red flaps under the chin


She said confused Gertie began to walk differently from her two other hens, Daisy and Gracie, a while ago.

But the pensioner was reassured by her vets that the hen was fine and there was nothing wrong.

Mrs Howard said: 'I bought three chickens a year ago and they were all laying eggs for me until the end of the year.

'They began to moult over the winter and I wasn't taking a lot of notice.

'Then one day I heard this crowing noise and I thought "Where's that coming from?"

'I looked into the garden at Gertie and I saw it was coming from her - or him.'

Jeanette, of Needingworth, near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, said Gertie had suddenly developed a scarlet comb, chin wattle and long tail feathers, all male characteristics.

'It had started cock-a-doodle-do-ing and had grown bits all over its face.

'He had really grown and was strutting around with his head up in the air, so proud of himself,' she said.

'I shall have to stop calling her Gertie now and start calling him Bertie.'

Jeanette said her three hens had laid eggs every day before the winter but their laying has become more irregular.


source: dailymail

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Chickens may be birdbrained - but they can still 'feel' each other's pain

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE

Pecking order: Female chickens have shown signs of anxiety when their young were in distress


You might think chickens are way down the pecking order in the animal kingdom when it comes to emotional intelligence.

But it turns out that mother hens are such attentive, caring parents that they ‘feel’ their chicks’ pain.

In experiments, female chickens showed clear signs of anxiety when their young were in distress. It is the first time scientists have discovered empathy in a bird.

The ability to feel someone’s pain or see their point of view was once thought to be uniquely human. But recent studies suggest animals may also experience empathy.
The tests on hens have important implications for the welfare of chickens in battery farms and science laboratories.

The British researchers chose hens and chicks because empathy is assumed to have evolved to help parents care for their young.

Jo Edgar, the PhD student at Bristol University who led the study, said: ‘The extent to which animals are affected by the distress of others is of high relevance to the welfare of farm and laboratory animals.

'We found that adult female birds possess at least one of the essential underpinning attributes of empathy – the ability to be affected by, and share, the emotional state of another.’


The researchers tested the mother hens’ reactions when their chicks’ feathers were ruffled with a puff of air.

When the chicks were exposed to the gusts, they showed signs of distress that were mirrored by their mothers. The hens’ heart rates increased, they became increasingly alert and, in a recognised sign of stress, their eye temperature lowered.

Levels of preening were reduced and the mothers clucked at the chicks more, according to the findings reported online today by the Royal Society.

The researchers said chickens reared commercially regularly encounter other birds showing signs of pain and distress ‘owing to routine husbandry practices or because of the high prevalence of conditions such as bone fractures or leg disorders’.


source: dailymail

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Laying this one must have been eggscruciating! The hen's egg eight times heavier than normal

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Eggstatic: The giant egg laid by Jeremy Paget's hen, Hattie


For a free-range hen who just laid an egg more than eight times heavier than normal, Hattie the hen seems remarkably unruffled.

The egg weighs a hefty 5.7oz, is three and a half inches long and eight inches in circumference.

Hattie’s owner Jeremy Paget, 50, who has been rearing his nine chickens for only six months, said of Thursday’s find:

‘My wife brought it in to me and asked me to close my eyes and said, “I’ve got a present for you”. We were absolutely gobsmacked.’

He now plans to use the egg to make an enormous omelette.

The financial consultant, of Four Marks, Hampshire, said Hattie did not seem particularly concerned afterwards.

It's not the first time recently that a chicken has laid an enormous or strangely shaped egg.

Last summer Harriet the hen laid an egg 4.5 inches long with a 9.1-inch circumference - both measurements half an inch longer than the previous record holder.


Whoa! Did that really just come out of me? Hattie inspects what she's laid


In Newquay last autumn a hotel chef preparing breakfast was left shell-shocked today after discovering a perfectly round egg, a billion-to-one discovery.

Hens' eggs are usually 2.3 inches long and have a circumference of 5.5 inches.
The heaviest hen’s egg on record so far weighed an astonishing 16oz.


source : dailymail

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