The case of the missing chicken

I am happy to report that all animals who are meant to live outside are now living outside. This includes: goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits. My 3 year old son has fallen in love with the silkie chick. When he goes outside, the silkie chick is in the child's arms for hours. Silkie goes with the 3 year old down the slide, on the swings, to feed the goats, in the tractor. Pretty much wherever the 3 year old goes, the silkie is forced to go as well.  When the 3 year old decides he needs to perform some important task alone, he will put the silkie inside the clubhouse to be retrieved later.  Amazingly, the silkie stays in the clubhouse until the 3 year old returns. The clubhouse has open windows and the silkie should easily be able to escape but my theory is that the silkie is too exhausted from all the play to think of exiting the clubhouse. 
A few nights ago, I went outside to close up the henhouse and put the various other animals in their proper habitats. The silkie beds down for the night with another small chicken in their own special cage (the teenage chickens are still being bully's to the little chickens so the little chicks can't go on the big henhouse just yet). The silkies' buddy was in his cage but the silkie was nowhere to be found.  Uh oh, my thoughts immediately went to the skunk that I had seen in the backyard one morning or the fox we saw chasing some deer the previous night.  Knowing that the 3 year old would be devastated, my family began a massive search for the silkie.  Foolishly calling it's name (it is my husband's chicken and he named it Dookie), the chicken has not yet appeared to know it's name but it is what we naturally do when a living thing is missing.  My husband and 10 year old took the massive searchlight and drove around the neighborhood looking for the silkie.  I and the 13 year old searched the yard many times but couldn't find the poor bird.  I eventually realized that if it were in the yard, it would have gone into the cage with it's buddy since they never separate from each other.  The 3 year old was asleep so we were glad that at least he didn't have to be stressed about the fate of the bird. 
I went to bed trying to figure out how I could find another silkie the same size and color before the 3 year old figured out that his beloved friend was missing.  I concocted a plan of a morning spent running errands that just happen to include stopping by the silkie lady's house and hoping that she would have one that matched the missing bird.  Knowing this plan would most likely not work, I started thinking about possibly finding a book that would handle the emotions of a young child with a missing pet.  Knowing there probably isn't a book that addresses missing chickens, I then started planning in my head the book I would need to write, illustrate and print.  No, I did not get much sleep that night.
I awoke the next morning and heard the 13 year old ask the 3 year old, "Do you know where Dookie is?"  I jumped out of bed, ran down the hall trying to decide how to handle the situation when I heard the 3 year old say "Oh sure, I'll get him."  He then walked to the free standing armoire that is just outside my bedroom door, open it up and retrieved the chicken from the bottom shelf.  He then explained, "I put him away last night and told him to stay quiet and I would get him in the morning!" 
The case of the missing chicken was solved. I only had to clean one chicken dropping off the shelf and learned that next time an animal is missing I need to either check with the 3 year old or start opening lots of doors.