Granted my coop and run are very small and I only have 7 pullets that spend 4 hours of their day in the yard. I spot check daily(10 mins or less), and do a major sift every couple weeks(1hour). So far this fry basket and slotted spoon($6.49) have worked like a charm, gets all the small pieces of poo, and conserves the sand. Mostly what ends up in the compost is almost all poo very little sand.