Singular instance of Sagacity in a Hen

[Touching story set in 1851 in Marquette, Wisconsin, America of an old hen knowing her time was short passed on her responsibilities of incubating her eggs and rearing her young to a younger hen.]

Mr. Philander Pierce, of Marquette, Wisconsin, communicates the following to the Country Gentleman, Albany, New York: “A few years since, I purchased a hen of Mr. Odell, now a resident of our village, who informed me that she was one of the first settlers of Wisconsin, and, having a particular regard for old age, I concluded to keep Mrs. Biddy and witness the affects of age in her declining years. Whether there is a natural respect for age among certain animals, I will not attempt to decide; but certain it is that not a biped upon the farm ever attempted to cross her inclination, of dispute her authority; and it there was a fowl whose organ of self-esteem was prominently developed, it was her. Nothing remarkable occurred aside from her haughty department till the last year of her life, which was in 1851, when she became extremely decrepit, and was able to walk but a few steps without stopping to rest; and if by any mishap she was unable to gain her feet till some one came to her assistance. Decrepit as she was, however, she had a litter of eggs, and commenced the process of incubation. Her health failing rapidly, it soon became evident that she could not survive long enough to finish her task. One morning I observed her leaving her nest, and directing her course toward the place where she received her daily food. She proceeded a little distance when she came in company with another hen, who was walking leisurely through the yard. Both stopped, and putting their heads together as if in close and confidential conversation, remained so for some minutes. After the conversation was ended, the old hen began to retrace her steps back to her nest, followed by her younger and more vigorous companion, stopping occasionally to renew their conversation. Having arrived at the nest a long conversation apparently ensued, after which the young hen, carefully placing herself on the nest, took charge of the eggs as if they had been her own, while the old hen, as if conscious of her inability to proceed with her task, had provided a mother for her expected offspring, and bidding a final adieu to the place where the ties of nature had bound her affection, she left the scene. She never afterward took any notice of her nest or exhibited any regard for her eggs. She appeared conscious of her approaching end, and taking her station near where she received her food she never left the spot, but remained there a few days and expired. The step-mother reared the chickens with all the attention and affection of an own mother.

Relevant link: -Philander Pierce (1816 1895), for details of his gravestone which reads:

I am done with earth and now behold The spirit world
to me unfold. My body sleeps beneath the ground.
Till wakened by the trumpet sound.