CLUCKING with contentment, Mary the two-year-old hen settles down on her brood tucked under her wings for warmth.

But Mary may get a bit of a shock in a couple of weeks time when her 'babies' begin running around on four legs instead of two!

And it's as confusing for Mary's owner, Leon Docwra who couldn't believe what he saw when he peeked into the hen coop to see if there were any eggs.

Instead he spotted bundles of white fur, poking out from beneath the broody hen.

It seems another pet, a year old rabbit called Georgie 'borrowed' the hen coop to use as a maternity ward after escaping from her own pen.

And Georgie is quite happy leaving her trio of week-old baby bunnies with a clucking babysitter while she pops out for some 'me time'.

Leon, who is keeping a close eye on his pets at his scrapyard business in Great Yarmouth said: 'How bizarre is this? There's Mary the confused little hen, bless her, and Georgie only goes in now and then to feed the babies.

'Strangely, Mary hasn't a problem with that and when Georgie has finished feeding them Mary just carries on fussing around them and keeping them warm.'

Leon laughed: 'I think we are going to have some confused rabbits!'

And our photographer James Bass ruffled Mary's feathers when he lifted the lid on the coop to take the picture - the hen immediately went into 'protection' mode and wasn't happy at all with the intrusion into 'her' family life!