Steve, your girls are litter trained? Wow..I'm so impressed!
No, Sheepy, I just use a leaf rake with close tines but that one with the 1/4" hardware cloth was a great idea!
Are you talking about in the coop? or in the run? My run has sand in it and it was the best thing I ever did (well, I've only had the chickens since May. )
Our 11 x 11' run has a chicken wire roof and is also covered with a tarp. It started out in June as grass. That lasted about two weeks...