Japanese farmer discovers his chickens are helping raise a kindle of kittens

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“One of these things is not like the others.”

Odd animal pairings, like this snake and hamster, are the stuff legends are made of — well, Internet legends, at least. But we have a new odd couple to add to the list of improbably friendships — chickens helping raise a kindle of kittens!

Okinawa-based Twitter user @ritou39 recently tweet the message and photo below, capturing the attention of Twitter and fans of cuteness across the Internet. Apparently the three kittens were birthed and left in an egg box in his chicken house several days ago. He wrote that, while the chickens would normally go after any intruders, for some reason they seem to be helping keep the kittens warm along with their eggs. Of course, chickens could hardly raise a litter of kittens on their own — but the mother cat seems to be sneaking in at night to give them milk.

数日前鶏舎の産卵箱に仔猫が3匹産み落とされていました鶏は他の侵入者には攻撃しますが何故か仔猫には優しく卵と一緒に温めています親ネコは夜に乳を与えてるようで、仔猫はすくすく育っています暫くこのまま様子を見ようかと思います https://t.co/3e0XYjl5uM
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ヨット (@ritou39) April 24, 2016

▼ Here’s another photo of the kittens taken even earlier.

仔猫達を発見した翌日（4/22）の写真です。自分が最初に出した画像はその2日後のでしたが、昨日出張から帰ってきた社長が撮っていたので、画像を貰いました。仔猫達の移動先はいまだ不明ですが、またきっと顔を見せてくれると願っています。 https://t.co/8uDbskM7pl
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ヨット (@ritou39) April 27, 2016

And @ritou39 has been keeping people updated on the growth of the kittens. He provides another photo of the adorable kittens and one of the chicken house, adding that there are about 400 hens milling about, so the babies have 400 guardians watching over them!

@ritou39 今日も仔猫はスヤスヤ寝ています(^o^) 写真のように鶏舎には約400羽のメス鶏が自由に動ける環境にいて、入れ替わり立ち替わり産卵箱に卵を産みに来ます。なので400羽全てが仔猫を見守っていることになるんです。 https://t.co/YllZeWlWy0
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ヨット (@ritou39) April 25, 2016

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By now, you’re probably wondering why the chickens are letting the cats in their house without a fuss — and why the people who run the place aren’t worried about the cats taking advantage of the situation. The Twitter user provided some helpful background on that matter!

Apparently quite a few cats live in the hills behind the farm, and the workers give the felines food every day. That seems to be why the cats haven’t attacked the chickens even once, so apparently they’re not much worried about the cats trying to eat the chickens or their eggs.

▼ He provided some photos of the cats eating too!

みやぎ農園の裏山にはたくさん猫が住んでいて、スタッフが毎日エサをあげています。そのせいもあってか、今まで鶏が猫に襲われたことは一度もありません。スタッフの愛情も伝わっているのだと思います。なので今回も安心して見守っていました。 https://t.co/1nI71SFJVs
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ヨット (@ritou39) April 26, 2016

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