I used sand in my brooder this spring and rigged up a jumbo kitty litter scoop with old screen wrapped over it and attached using some pieces of wire twisted on (could use zit ties or maybe even twist ties from trash bags). It took me about 10-15 minutes to throughly sift their brooder, which was 4'x4' with an addition on it that was 2'x3'...the 21 little fuzzballs grew up quickly, and made a mess along the way!
I plan on switching from shavings to sand in the big coop once we complete the remodel to make room for the newbies (they have their own grow-out coop adjacent to the big girls for now), and read on "The Chicken Chicks" Facebook page/blog about a bigger sifter for coop cleaning--she took a plastic pitchfork (usually used to clean horse stalls--I have five here) and wrapped it with the hardware cloth other posters mentioned--says it did a great job for the larger areas. I hope to find out in a few weeks! You can find those forks at TSC or most farm supply or tack stores for $15-20--maybe cheaper for generic (Future Fork is the most well known brand).
I plan on switching from shavings to sand in the big coop once we complete the remodel to make room for the newbies (they have their own grow-out coop adjacent to the big girls for now), and read on "The Chicken Chicks" Facebook page/blog about a bigger sifter for coop cleaning--she took a plastic pitchfork (usually used to clean horse stalls--I have five here) and wrapped it with the hardware cloth other posters mentioned--says it did a great job for the larger areas. I hope to find out in a few weeks! You can find those forks at TSC or most farm supply or tack stores for $15-20--maybe cheaper for generic (Future Fork is the most well known brand).
