We've adopted two 2 wk old chickens from my DD's egg hatching program for my MIL and are babysitting them for a little while (if we can bear to hand them over...).

I bought them home from preschool on Friday afternoon after the chicken people picked out the girls.

They are living in a plastic container with water and chicken scratch food and a halogen desk light set up so they get some warmth. They have wood shavings on newspaper to scratch around in. They've been playing with a small piece of broccoli for the last hour or so that seems to have been a hit.

I took them out into the sunshine yesterday for a supervised run around on the grass, although they mostly just ran under my legs and tentatively peeked out.

DP has insisted we name them and DD picked Alice and I picked Dorothy. DP thought she suited Dottie better, so Dottie it is. And he says I'm getting attached!

So I'm not sure now when they'll be going to MIL, we've said we'll hang onto them for a little while. After all, they need to be kept like this for some time yet and they're no trouble!

Any chicken caring tips??