can I use newspaper?

I use all purpose sand and a little DE mixed in it . It works great and if you use a shifter you can recycle it ,but paper I do not know I would think the ink from them would be harmful . Smoeone on here might be more informed on it . .I can say that the sand has worked great for me .I did not care for shaving and 6.00 a bag or more and I would have to buy 4 for one 5x8 coopcompare to 2 bags of sand and recycke it .The poop goes into a compost pile .

 

Most newspaper ink is now soy based. I am trying to find a way to shred it and use it easily since I have access to a bunch of newspaper.

 

If you have access to the free papers and I say try it .We have thoese free papers called Thrifty Nickle, but I am concern abou the problems it would cause to the birds if they eat it or the ink gets on them .

 

Newspapers (don't know about thrifty nickels or other small papers) are required to use soy-based inks since so many people use them as bedding in pet cages.

 

It may be called amercian classic ,now .It is a nationwide paper .I know my vet will not use paper in the cages ,but will lay it underneath.so the animals will not mess with it . Paper gets wet fast to .

 

I would think newspapers would be very messy and you wouldn't be able to fluff once they have been tromped and pooed on.

Just my opinion.

 

are we talking about chicks or full grown? Can I use shreded computer paper (with the ink on it) for chicks

 

I think shredded paper would be fine for chicks. I used grass clippings, but mine arrived in early June, so they were free and easy to get. I liked grass clippings so well that I did them in my coop which is 8 x 16. It has worked well and I add to it all summer long. Smells so good to bring a bushel in and scatter it. Now is winter and no more grass clippings, but litter is 6" deep now and because we use a wide poop plank under roosts, we only will need to change litter once a year.