New Life

Last week we were out of town for our daughter's college orientation. Upon our return, we received guests from Tampa - a family with two small children. My hubby was showing the kids around the farm on Saturday and took them into the hen house to show them a couple of "sitting" hens - hens that are sitting on eggs, waiting for them to hatch. His intention was just to show them the hens and the eggs that were under them. To his surprise, he lifted one hen and out came the cutest little chick. When he looked under the second hen, her egg was hatching and the baby had it's leg out of the shell. How cool is that? These city kids got to see the chick as it pecked out of the shell. The really funny thing is when we got the mothers and babies out of the nesting boxes and situated them in boxes on the floor, one of the hens left - and didn't return to care for her baby! The baby was taken in by the other hen and they are now a happy family of three!