DottieDotDot
Hatching
- Feb 12, 2018
- 1
- 4
- 5
Hello! Not sure if you're reading the comments to this thread anymore, but I have an indoor pet Rooster named Dottie. He's my best friend and born on Mother's day last year so our boys are about the same age. Dottie lives in my room with me, actually. He has a coop that he goes in for the night that also has a run that I attached to it for days that I might be gone and I need someone else to watch and feed him. Other than that, he wears a diaper and loves to spend most of his time hanging out with me on my bed (especially should I decide not to put him in the coop at night then he stands on my shoulder or on my pillow next to my head and sleeps with me.) He wears a rooster collar too, but I try to take it off every now and then to give his neck a bit of a break.
If I'm ever gone for more than one day, I try to make arrangements to take Dot with me. Hes really good on car rides, actually (though it makes sense considering he's gone on them with me his whole life.) My sister owns an organic farm and I had helped her in setting up eggs to incubate from the eggs she collected in her coop. I had gone away on a road trip across the country and when I came back they were all just about to hatch. I was the only person in the house the night they hatched and Dot was the first one born. I was the only one he'd let hold him after that without him screaming bloody murder so I kind of just... took him on. Same as you, I didn't know if he was going to be a rooster or a hen, but it worked out for me anyway considering I live fairly rural-y.
I've noticed that he really likes standing in front of a mirror to preen himself. I'm not even kidding. He'll stand in front of one for hours at times, just looking, occasionally giving his reflection a soft peck but nothing ever more than that. So I put a mirror in my room above my dresser specifically for him to have that bit of fun narcissism to himself. He also likes shiny things, that make noise and move when he pecks it. I found a ferris wheel made out of little jingly bells, and that's one of his favorite toys.
He did have a stint at one point where he was a bit rowdy and a little aggressive due to his repressed sexuality, but I actually found some stuffed animals to give to him that he uses to... well... relieve himself and that's helped that aggression go down. If he ever felt the need to get pushy with me, I found the best way to convey to him that he's not my boss is to scoop him up if he tries to come at my feet, wrap him up in my arms and hold him close (but not tight) to my chest. It's a move I am now going to pin as fighting fire with hugs. I usually give him a kiss or two on his comb, which I feel he interprets as me establishing my pecking order with him????
I am his flock. I know that. For the most part it's just me and him. However, because I know he runs the risk of getting lonely, I actually try to socialize him with the other animals of the house as much as possible. I take him downstairs to hang out in the living room with the dogs and cats (I think he likes cats the most, the only dogs he likes are ones that just don't acknowledge his presence.) I actually have a picture of him and my Mom's cat Moss (who likes dogs, but generally doesn't like any other animal) just... hanging out... on the guest bed at my mom's place from the trip him and I took together to visit my family for Christmas.
I mentioned that he's used to car rides and a lot of that has to do with (especially during the summer) our trips to the next town over to go on some nicely groomed, public walking trails. This past summer he was a lot smaller and would follow me around pretty easy, but since he's bigger than my head now
no joke
I figure other people might find him a bit intimidating on the trails so I invested in those spongy cat leashes and a chicken harness for him. Either way, being outside is a super good activity for your indoor Roos.
Think of it like... owning a small dog. Since he's alone, your boy is going to see you as his flockmate, his best. friend. I'm sure by now you've made a few more adjustments to his living style (the dirt bath things are really important and admittedly I need to do something for that right now since taking him outside in constant -15 degrees (f) weather [It's cold where we're from] isn't much of an option. I was thinking of putting some plain, unscented, clay cat litter in his run???? Maybe...) but I guess any advice I could give you would be to give him the same kind of love and respect you would any other member of your family and he'll give you it in return. I hope that my sharing of my experience with an indoor solitary Roo provides any kind of help. The short end of it is really that to ensure that he's happy, above all else, I try my best to socialize with him.
Now just for the heck of it, here's some more pictures documenting Dot's growth and some of our adventures together!
(From one of our nature walks this past summer... this picture was actually the first thing that made me realize I have a mini pet dinosaur. He looks like a Velociraptor!)
(I am a counselor at a summer adventure+theater camp and I made a point to bring him with me. He couldn't sleep in the cabin with me and my campers, so this was his first full week sleeping outside... well... in a well protected shed. He quickly became the camp mascot!)
(Cuddle time was a tradition we started early on and have never really stopped.)
(The beginning of his first molt. We spent a lot of time out on walks, but my room was filled with his feathers anyway.)
(These two are simply to show just how much of a ham he is. Look at those poses!)
If I'm ever gone for more than one day, I try to make arrangements to take Dot with me. Hes really good on car rides, actually (though it makes sense considering he's gone on them with me his whole life.) My sister owns an organic farm and I had helped her in setting up eggs to incubate from the eggs she collected in her coop. I had gone away on a road trip across the country and when I came back they were all just about to hatch. I was the only person in the house the night they hatched and Dot was the first one born. I was the only one he'd let hold him after that without him screaming bloody murder so I kind of just... took him on. Same as you, I didn't know if he was going to be a rooster or a hen, but it worked out for me anyway considering I live fairly rural-y.
I've noticed that he really likes standing in front of a mirror to preen himself. I'm not even kidding. He'll stand in front of one for hours at times, just looking, occasionally giving his reflection a soft peck but nothing ever more than that. So I put a mirror in my room above my dresser specifically for him to have that bit of fun narcissism to himself. He also likes shiny things, that make noise and move when he pecks it. I found a ferris wheel made out of little jingly bells, and that's one of his favorite toys.
He did have a stint at one point where he was a bit rowdy and a little aggressive due to his repressed sexuality, but I actually found some stuffed animals to give to him that he uses to... well... relieve himself and that's helped that aggression go down. If he ever felt the need to get pushy with me, I found the best way to convey to him that he's not my boss is to scoop him up if he tries to come at my feet, wrap him up in my arms and hold him close (but not tight) to my chest. It's a move I am now going to pin as fighting fire with hugs. I usually give him a kiss or two on his comb, which I feel he interprets as me establishing my pecking order with him????
I am his flock. I know that. For the most part it's just me and him. However, because I know he runs the risk of getting lonely, I actually try to socialize him with the other animals of the house as much as possible. I take him downstairs to hang out in the living room with the dogs and cats (I think he likes cats the most, the only dogs he likes are ones that just don't acknowledge his presence.) I actually have a picture of him and my Mom's cat Moss (who likes dogs, but generally doesn't like any other animal) just... hanging out... on the guest bed at my mom's place from the trip him and I took together to visit my family for Christmas.
I mentioned that he's used to car rides and a lot of that has to do with (especially during the summer) our trips to the next town over to go on some nicely groomed, public walking trails. This past summer he was a lot smaller and would follow me around pretty easy, but since he's bigger than my head now
no joke
I figure other people might find him a bit intimidating on the trails so I invested in those spongy cat leashes and a chicken harness for him. Either way, being outside is a super good activity for your indoor Roos.
Think of it like... owning a small dog. Since he's alone, your boy is going to see you as his flockmate, his best. friend. I'm sure by now you've made a few more adjustments to his living style (the dirt bath things are really important and admittedly I need to do something for that right now since taking him outside in constant -15 degrees (f) weather [It's cold where we're from] isn't much of an option. I was thinking of putting some plain, unscented, clay cat litter in his run???? Maybe...) but I guess any advice I could give you would be to give him the same kind of love and respect you would any other member of your family and he'll give you it in return. I hope that my sharing of my experience with an indoor solitary Roo provides any kind of help. The short end of it is really that to ensure that he's happy, above all else, I try my best to socialize with him.
Now just for the heck of it, here's some more pictures documenting Dot's growth and some of our adventures together!
(From one of our nature walks this past summer... this picture was actually the first thing that made me realize I have a mini pet dinosaur. He looks like a Velociraptor!)
(I am a counselor at a summer adventure+theater camp and I made a point to bring him with me. He couldn't sleep in the cabin with me and my campers, so this was his first full week sleeping outside... well... in a well protected shed. He quickly became the camp mascot!)
(Cuddle time was a tradition we started early on and have never really stopped.)
(The beginning of his first molt. We spent a lot of time out on walks, but my room was filled with his feathers anyway.)
(These two are simply to show just how much of a ham he is. Look at those poses!)
