The gift

Most of you know I've been having predator problems, which resulted in the loss of some of my chickens. And my beautiful rooster. 

Before the rooster was killed, one of my "girls" was setting on a nest of eggs. So I was hoping and praying she would hatch out some new babies for me.

A friend of mine heard about the situation and sent me a message offering to "gift" me some of her fertile eggs. And to top it off she even delivered them!

I slipped them under the hen that night with her other eggs and marked my calendar. And waited.

This morning was the 21st day. After finishing my chores I made my way to the far corner of the barn to see what I might find. 

During this whole process another "thief" had stolen some of the eggs. (But that's a story for another day.)

I carefully lifted momma hen up and was pleasantly surprised to see all five of her remaining eggs had hatched!

Is there anything much cuter then newly hatched chicks?!

And I have these five new babies because of a generous, thoughtful gift from a friend. You never know what a "seemingly" small gift can mean to a person. It can become a great treasure. Thank you friend!