Adoption?
A few days ago, a hen appeared on my yard with two tiny chicks. For two or three days she was with her two tiny chicks and at some point, I even saw a rooster steal one of the chicks to eat it, but the hen rescued it. After the two or three days, another hen appeared with five chicks. The next day, I saw again the hen with the two chicks and the hen with the five chicks. Now, on the third day, for some weird reason, one of the five chicks started following the mother of two. I thought the confused chick was doomed and that at nighttime, the wrong mother would reject it and it would die eaten by predators. To my surprise, in the morning, I saw the hen with the three chicks and the former mother of five with four. That can only mean the mother of two accepted the third and kept it warm under her during the night. Same happened last night. Now I wonder if the hen adopted the chick for some reason and the originally mother of five hasn't "cared" about one leaving her. Very strange.