Paper towels in brooder

[Noisette]

Hi. Is there any reason I should not keep using paper towels in my brooder box? I change them 2 times a day. Is there a reason to transition to sand or pine shavings before the chicks go from the brooder box to the coop/run? Thank you.

 

[50-45-1]

Chicks enjoy scratching around and very soon they will be shredding that paper towel in minutes.
I only use the paper towel for 2 days, then i use pine shavings on top of newspaper.
The biggest reasons for the paper towel are:
1. New born chicks joints can easily "slip" and the paper towel gives them grip. Newspaper is to slipprey. After 2 days the joints are fixed. spraddle leg is not fun to deal with.
2. New born chicks not knowing what their food is will experiment on the smaller flakes of pine shavings. It is very important in those first couple days that they only eat there starter crumbles. I start the pine shavings on day three.