I'm trying to picture cleaning up poop out of sand...like one giant litter box. It makes me shudder. You guys must have small coops. My henhouse (where they sleep) is 4' x 4'. The coop/run area (where they spend the day) is about 10' by 15'. Raking poop out of that much sand would drive me crazy. Also, the sand would get very hot in the summer, in the part of the coop that's not shaded.
Because I have such a large area, I use straw, which I buy in bales from a local feed store. It really keeps the smell down. I used to rake up the straw every couple of months and pile it into the compost, but since the chickens have access to the compost (helping keep sprouts and bugs out of the compost is half the reason I keep chickens!) they jsut rake the dirty straw out again. Now I just add the fresh straw on top of the old straw. I spray it with water now and again to keep the dust down and to aid in decomposition (it doesn't rain here, so you have to do that.) Then, when I need mulch for my garden, I dig up the old straw, which after a few months turns into a nitrogen-rich loam. Because their droppings are decomposed and mixed with the organic bulk, they don't burn my plants.
You could use just about anything, it seems, as long as it's cheap and hides the smell. If you have access to fresh lawn clippings, that would work too. My hens love to eat grass clippings.
