Last fall, we had a hen that was determined to sit on a clutch of eggs, and I decided to just leave her be. The morning of September 12, they hatched. Unfortunately, I did not find them until the afternoon of September 12, after all but one had become what I assume was cat food.
The one remaining did well, and it was a beautiful thing to witness a hen with her chick , teaching him how to search for food and sheltering it under her wing, even after he was nearly her size.
As he got older he gained independence from his mother but was too timid to join the others, and it was decided I was his flock. He followed me everywhere he could, and when I would go inside, he would wait for me on the porch, tapping at the glass of the door.
He did start to take an interest in actual hens, but they were not amused with the young rooster's lack of finesse, and would often chase him away. He'd always come find me; we'd sit together and I would give him a pep talk while we shared a cookie.
Eventually he developed enough confidence to win over a group of hens, and he moved on. While I missed his company, I was glad he had finally established his place among the other birds.
Then one afternoon I came home, and realized I had a left-over cookie in my car. I caught a glimpse of the now fully mature rooster standing on the edge of the driveway, so I offered it to him. He reluctantly came to me, eyeballed the cookie, and took a piece - which pleased me immensely. And then he did something even cooler. He took the piece of cookie, laid it on the ground, and called all of his hens over. While they started pecking at the piece, he came back to me, took another piece, and did the same thing again. He continued to do this until the cookie was gone, and never did he eat a piece himself.
Well done, my little chicken friend. Well done.