When Umber the chicken arrived at Piebird Farm Sanctuary, she was not in good shape.
After a stint at an ill-fated urban farm, she was sent to live in the idyllic sanctuary outside of Toronto, Canada.
But she was in such a deep funk that she couldn't even appreciate the scenery, her fellow animals, or the kindness of sanctuary owners Sherry and Yan Piebird.
"She was broody," Yan Piebird says. "Eyes glazed. Just sitting on the nest all the time. It's like a deep hibernation. They just really get into that zone."
It's not clear what Umber went through, but whatever it was, it was affecting her deeply.
Chickens may look silly clucking around, but they have emotions just like everyone else. They also value friendship and emotional connections, even with animals you might expect them to run from.
And a friend was about to be thrust under Umber's beak.
It started when a two-day-old baby turkey (they're called poults or chicks, in case you were wondering) appeared at Piebird Farm Sanctuary. There were no female turkeys around to raise her, and so the Piebirds brought him to the next best qualified creature for the job: Umber.
They brought the turkey chick, who they named Merl, over to Umber's nesting box and waited anxiously to see what she would do.
Maybe it was a latent maternal instinct, or maybe it was just seeing someone as alone as she felt, but something clicked in Umber. She shifted just a little bit, enough for Merl to crawl under her feathers, where it was warm.
And thus started a beautiful and healing relationship.
[H/T] The Dodo
Umber came to the Piebird Farm Sanctuary after living in an urban environment for a while.
When that didn't work out, she came to the sanctuary, located in Nipissing, Ontario, north of Toronto in Canada.
And whatever she'd been through was weighing heavily on her. She just sat on her nest all day and didn't seem interested in making friends or in getting to know her new home.
But that all changed when Merl showed up.
The turkey chick was only about two days old and was in desperate need of someone to look after her.
But since there were no female turkeys at the sanctuary, Sherry and Yan Piebird, the sanctuary founders, figured Umber might be up to the job.
If you look on the bottom left of this photo, you can see that she warmed up to her immediately, letting her snuggle under her feathers like she was her own.
"Umber saw companionship," Piebird says. "She saw warmth. She saw mothering."
She saw, it seemed, something that she hadn't in a long time, and maybe never thought she'd see again.
And it helped that Merl had a baby's natural curiosity.
He soon got up and started poking around all corners of his new home, and Umber found herself following him.
"You can only lie down for so long when there's a little one running around your feet all the time," Piebird says.
Together, Umber and Merl are exploring their home, and Merl is picking up a few distinctly chicken-like habits from her new mom, like scratching in the dirt for bugs.
Turkeys, Piebird says, are typically happy to hunt for food on the surface, but chickens like to scratch.
The important thing is that they each finally have someone in their lives.
And Merl is getting big! By the time she's fully grown, she'll be much larger than Umber, but it's clear that the pair will have a bond for years to come.
Umber and Merl, along with the rest of the animals at Piebird, will live long and happy lives together with their human guardians.
You can see more of Umber and Merl's adventures on the Piebird website, as well as on Facebook. And to make sure more animals get a second chance at life and family, consider donating.
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