I'm very happy to report that Chiquita is fully integrated into the flock and I will now remove the cat carrier from the pen. She spent her first full day outside with everybody. I did not intend to leave her out all day when I let her loose yesterday morning but things happened. Ended up having to be at my grandmothers at noon, expected to be home in a hour and instead arrived home 2 hours after dark. First thing I did was go to the pen looking for Chiquita hoping I would not have to track down a tiny hen in the dark. When I got to their pen first thing I see is the carrier is empty, my heart sinks. I then look up and I'm floored, there she is, on the big roost in the pen between Branch and Poppy. I had not yet tried to see if she knew how to roost, was planning on doing that this week. I did have to track down Corona who was sleeping in the dog house. Corona is spoiled and it is all my fault. She knows how to roost, but if I do not pack her and place her on it she stubs up and hides in the dog house waiting on me. Once inside I did ask Rosie if she had put any of the chickens on the roost as the pen was shut. She said she had placed Poppy on the roost beside Chiquita and she could not find Corona. I asked her if Chiquita was already up on the roost by herself and she said both she and Branch were. Branch must have shown her how to get up on the roost by hopping up on the sawhorse that is in the back of the pen. It is actually in there as a step ladder for the silkies as they cannot make the 5 foot leap in one go as the others can.
