Don't use newspaper in your brooder.

[Floppy Pheasant]

I have seen several blogs now online "advocating " using newspaper in the brooder...after countless years of raising Ringneck Pheasants and Button Quail,I do not recommend using newspaper.
Quail and Pheasants chicks are very tiny when born,smaller than chicken chicks....newspaper is slippery,it's not absorbant,the ink on newspapers combined with the urine and feces could be toxic to young chicks.
I use rubber contact rolls on the bottom and paper towels on top for two weeks,I have never had a chick develop "splayed leg" doing this.
I've saved many splayed leg pheasants for my neighbors but intervention is better than any cure!!! Stop using newspaper in your brooder.Thank You!

 

[FarmerGirl101]

I just use newspaper and then straw after a while.

 

[Kessel23]

I just use wood chips or paper towel.

 

[Floppy Pheasant]

Alot of people do...it's not good for their legs or respiration...

 

[Floppy Pheasant]

Be careful with woodchips if your brooding gamebirds,they can die of impacted gizzards because they eat the edges of the woodchips.

 

[Kessel23]

I have only had ducks, chickens, and broad breasted turkeys. Thanks for the info.

 

[chickenhatch]

realy ? i use it every time. thanks for the info.

 

[Floppy Pheasant]

Chickenhatch...Newspapers may be cheap but it is slippery,chicks can't grip it....I use rubber contact on bottom and paper towels on top (chicks can see the crumbles and it's softer to sleep on)
Just for the first two weeks,paper towels are excellent

 

[chickenhatch]

Chickenhatch...Newspapers may be cheap but it is slippery,chicks can't grip it....I use rubber contact on bottom and paper towels on top (chicks can see the crumbles and it's softer to sleep on)
Just for the first two weeks,paper towels are excellent

very nice idea

 

[JedJackson]

Yes, agree. Newspaper causes splayed legs and is messy and stinky. I use old bath towels weighted down at the corners myself, but just about anything is better than newspaper.