MOTHER HEN: A silky bantam hen has adopted two little– Tania Martin
A MONBULK family is now living its own ‘ugly duckling’ fairytale after its hen hatched a peacock egg.
Karan Millard said her silky bantam hen left its nest for a short time in December and while she was gone a peahen laid its eggs in the nest.
When the hen returned it took its place back at the nest and refused to allow the peacock near the eggs.
Ms Millard said over the next month the hen guarded its nest ‘like Fort Knox’.
“She (Silky) wouldn’t get off the eggs and the peacock kept pecking at her feathers,” she said.
The eggs have now hatched and the hen is looking after the baby peacocks as if they were her own.
The Millards and the hen are now waiting for the final peacock egg to hatch.
