Hens, eggs and mathematical patterns

Here's our small flock of hens,

 living happily in the big garden.

 One of the hens went broody in the Summer.

 She set up nest on a comfy bag of sawdust.

 Geoff bought 11 fertilised eggs. 

He was told to buy an odd number, as they can be arranged better.  

3 cream legbars, 3 speckled sussex, 3 buff sussex and 2 light sussex.

 So we investigated odd and even numbers of eggs, 

and how they fitted together in a nest.

 We really didn't come to any conclusion about odd/even egg patterns,

 but we enjoyed the activity!

We followed this up, by doing some mathematical work on patterns.

 20 days later, on a Sunday morning the eggs started to hatch.

 Feather-to-feather contact!

The chicks were soon strong enough to explore the garden. It was amazing to watch them with the mother hen. They copied everything she did, if she scratched, they scratched. When she ruffled her wings, so would they. The mother stayed with them until she started laying again, and then she returned to the flock. It was very sad to see the now 'teen' chicks, cheeping for their Mum.
We are just wondering how many cockerels we have...