I just want to thank chellejeff for starting this thread. When I first read through this thread in April, I was still awaiting the arrival of my first chicks and finishing up construction of my coop and run. I decided to go with sand in the 10'x10' coop for my nine chicks. It was $10/yard. It was such a piece of cake to keep clean that, as soon as the run was ready, I also filled it with sand.
In the coop, I added a poop board and filled it with a mix of sand and sweet PDZ. However, after a week or two, I switched to sweet PDZ only. It is so easy to sift with a cat scoop and there's never an odor. As for the floor of the coop, I use mostly sand with some PDZ and DE mixed in. I have zero odor issues and sand is never too hot, too cold or damp/wet.
In the run, the rain does get the sand wet about 8 inches in from the wall (the run is 12'x16'), but it dries quickly and the chickens don't seem to mind it or avoid it. In fact, with temps in the mid 90's this week, I misted all of the sand with cool water and it really cooled the run down. The sand was dry quickly, but the chickens were a lot cooler. I added sweet PDZ on top of the sand once, but find it isn't really necessary. I scoop the run whenever I'm in there, and there's never an odor issue. I have a rubber feed bin that I filled with sand, PDZ and DE for dustbathing, but they prefer the straight sand and underlying dirt in the corner of the run.
I also like that the waterers stay cleaner because the sand sinks to the bottom.
So in the morning, I grab my dollar store cat scoop and scoop the poop board. That's where 99% of the poop is. Then I scoop the floor, which takes seconds really. I use one poop bucket with lid, with sweet PDZ sprinkled in it, for the coop and another one for the run. All the poop goes on my compost. The PDZ removes the ammonia smell and it is edible and compostable.
I am so very happy I chose sand. No downsides thus far. Thanks chelejeff!