A new member of the family

About three weeks ago one of our hens started brooding and we were all over the moon. We don't know how it happened, one day she just stayed sitting down in the place where our hens lay their eggs and didn't move. For the next few days she would collect all of the eggs that the other hens had layed and was brooding in her own corner of the hutch. We had marked the calender and eagerly waited for any sign of new life. Yesterday (31/05/13) the wait was over and one of the chicks had hatched. I was at work all day so I missed the actual egg hatching but when I woke up today I went to have a look. Even though we have had our cockerel since he was an egg, the excitement and the cuteness factor was still very high.  

Mother hen and baby chick 

'Mummy can I have a cuddle please'

Cuddles

Mother hen staring right down the barrel of the lens 

My dad giving the both of them food 

'Mummy I don't want to eat anymore'

Snuggling back under mother hen