Chicken on the Wrong Roost

Roost rollcall. Brown hens present. Quails doing quail maths. Pavlova… not on her throne rail.

Pathway panic: fox story. Pathway patience: look where queens go to be seen.

Suzy checked roof edge — empty. Feed bay — empty. Tool shade beam — white feathers, royal posture.

Wrong roost. Comfortable. Illegal. Very Pavlova.

Spike offered soft eye and a trail of patience back toward the coop. No chase that teaches flying panic.

Why: the beam felt higher and therefore more queenly. How: an open coop timing slip at dusk.

Fix timing. Fix latch earlier. Praise the legal rail like it is a stage.

Harare chewed dusk grass unimpressed by poultry theatre.

Farm-mystery · chickens. Cap freeze intact — no paddock politics in the roost.

Kids: wrong beds and wrong couches happen. Guide kind. Latch earlier tomorrow.

Pavlova settled. Count complete. Night could begin.

Find the queen. Guide kind.