She had been sneaking into a neighbour’s yard to sit on eggs before anyone knew why, and what Tauntie did when three chicks hatched will wreck you

A TikTok clip posted by hobby farmer Kay Johnson has drawn hundreds of thousands views after capturing an unlikely family taking shape on her farm. As detailed by BroBible, Johnson’s turkey, Tauntie, had been displaying broody behavior for some time before Johnson decided to act on it. It turned out the bird had been sneaking into a neighbor’s yard to sit on eggs long before she came to live with Johnson, which explained the persistent instinct.

Once Johnson recognized the behavior, she placed three fertilized chicken eggs beneath Tauntie and filmed the moment. The turkey pulled the eggs toward her and settled over them almost immediately. “She accepted them right away,” Johnson later wrote, “and was so gentle with them.”

The process that followed is called incubation. Birds sit on their eggs to hold them at a stable temperature, allowing the embryos inside to develop properly. After about 21 days, the patience paid off. Three healthy chicks hatched, and Johnson reported that both the mother and her chicks were doing well. “Tauntie the turkey is living her dream raising 3 baby chickens,” she wrote in the caption.

Cross-species parenting is more common than it looks

Experts suggest that these unusual bonds often stem from deep-seated instinct and, in some cases, something resembling empathy. Author Jenny Holland has noted that animals appear to be hardwired to offer care to creatures in need, even across species lines. Applied animal behaviorist Jill Goldman adds that mutual benefit plays a role, and that nursing mothers are often flooded with oxytocin, the bonding hormone that reinforces protective behavior. Amid other well-documented animal stories, a senior dog adoption drew similar attention online when a chihuahua passed over by every other adopter chose its owner on first meeting.

There are several documented cases of cross-species parenting on record. In 2018, researchers at Gir National Park in India observed a lioness caring for a baby leopard, despite the two species typically being competitors. A lioness in Kenya named Kamunyak adopted multiple baby oryx throughout her lifetime, attempting to shield them from predators. Domestic animals have shown the same trait, with dogs nursing orphaned squirrels and hens sitting on puppies to keep them warm.

In the comments on Johnson’s video, viewers responded warmly. One joked that the chicks were “birdlingual,” since their mother speaks turkey while they were born speaking chicken. Others were simply moved by the sight of the family unit. Johnson said she was grateful the chicks had such a patient mother in Tauntie. The clip has continued to spread, much like a black bear’s encounter with an 11-year-old at a Family Dollar that also went wide after security footage captured the moment.