I have a question about the grate on the cage bottom and my babies, Toasty and Chicken.

It has been lined with newpaper for a while now in preparation of them emerging from nest so as for them not to hurt their little tootisies.

As you know now both chicks have come out of the nest...one is 5 weeks and 2 days..other chick is 4 weeks and 4 days.
They both get around well....perch very well and are climbing the cage bars and such. Toasty can fly very well and Chicken is almost there..can do it but not as well as his older brother yet. Toasty is eating everything in site in his dish and off the floor covered with the newspaper. Chicken is pecking food off newspaper but still not as zealous about eating on his own.

My question is when do you experienced keet owners/breeders think it is safe enough for me to remove the newspaper off the grate.

I know I should wait until both babies are experienced enough at eating well on their own..giving them full chance to peck at any fallen seeds and such.
But I want to know if you recommend a certain amount of weeks/months to have gone by for it to be safe enough to remove paper from grate.


thanks in advance for any input.

since the babies are out of the nest, and walking around, id honestly not use newspaper on top of the grate ... the ink smears when wet and not all newspapers used soy based inks.

i would use paper towel on top of the grate and leave it there til around 8 weeks.

if they shred the paper towels its ok ... i used regular plane white printer paper layered across the bottom, was more stable and sturdy or remove the grate altogether and just lay down some paper towels in the bottom

ahhhh good idea. I am going to use the printer copy paper.

Thanks hun!

I too would line the grate with white copy paper or towels.can't wait to see the babies.hopefully your aware the spacing in between the bars of the cage should be no more then 1/2 inch.

Here are some pics of Chicken on the copy paper.
Boy, I think he is beginning to like posing for the camera..lol!

Oh man!! How adorable! You can still see the black on his little beak awww .Levi still had that when I got him and at first I thought he had poo on his beak or something..til someone here mentioned it was a sign of being young. And it does look like he's posing! LOL
I use newspaper with layer of cheap white papertowels over the grate.He was still clumsy when I got him and I was afraid he'd break a leg or something when he would miss a perch and land on bottom.Made cleanup so easy and since I only have one I still do it.
BTW I heard that any adhesives-tape,glue etc can be toxic to them so you might not want to use scotch tape if that's what I see there?
Chicky is so darn cute, I think I will come and birdnap him!

lol...good eye!
Yeah I ended up realizing that soon after I did that and did what you do...used a layer of paper towels over the white paper for now.
I also then thought..hmm I could also just put the layer of paper towels over newspaper as well and how easy a clean up it would be since the towels would be absorbant!
So dont worry, not gonna use the tape anymore. Thanks for caring about my lil one.

OMG!! He is absolutely adorable, and yes he is definitely posing for the camera.