I think I agonized more over coop and run material than anything else chicken-related so far (except when one of my girls got injured). It seems every option is equally awesome and hazard-laden.
Stats: live in eastern KS, we've had less rain than normal this year, but it's been blisteringly hot and it's always humid. Coop is 32 square feet, run is 100 square foot in the main part, plus the area under the coop. My girls do not free range and I have five hens. The run is a dog kennel, so it gets a ton of fresh air (and apples from my trees, which my girls think is pretty rad).
In our coop, I changed from pine shavings to sand in late spring. I have about three inches of sand in the coop (purchased construction sand made from natural rock), which is never wet. Here are my observations so far (about 3-4 months in):
1 - holy moly, it was heavy.
2 - the poop dries and hardens very quickly
3 - very little smell
4 - a small, child's rake is the very best tool I've found for poo shoveling (compared to a pitch fork with hardware cloth.....that just kept bending and was extremely frustrating). I lightly run the rake over the sand, then scoop the poop with a cat litter scoop
5 - it is impossible to get all the poop
6 - it stays about 5 degrees cooler in the coop than the outside air. It was nearly always exactly the same temperature with pine shavings
7 - I scoop once a week (no poop boards, but the poop dries so fast and so thoroughly that there is no smell) and it takes about 5-10 minutes. I check it every day and if it seems messy, I clean more often
8 - scooping poop is extremely dusty
Will I keep using sand? Overall, I've felt sort of "meh" about sand, especially because of the dustiness. I like it much better than pine shavings, but I hated those (smelled within hours, inside of the coop was hotter and more humid, plus I'm allergic). If the choice is between sand and shavings, I'll stick with sand. I did try deep litter with pine shavings in the coop and it was awful. Sooooo many flies and probably way too dry to actually break down.
For the run, we started with the dog kennel over grass. The grass didn't last long, so it was mostly dirt. It was dusty and every time I walked in, I got poo all over the bottom of my shoes. It was AWFUL when it rained.
We decided to purchase "mini bark nuggets" from Menards, though they are not particularly "mini". The wood is pine and while there was some moisture in the bags when we bought them, they dried out very quickly. We bought enough to put about 2-3 inches down (bought exactly 12 bags, 2cu ft each and probably could have gotten away with 10....each bag was just slightly over $3). They've been down over a month. My thoughts so far:
1 - the bags were very lightweight
2 - they dry very quickly after rain
3 - no dust
4 - the girls seem to love them. They love scratching around in them (zero splintering so far and I'm unable to break them or splinter them by hand). The layer is not very deep and the dirt underneath is now beautiful and loose, so they are dirt bathing beauties. Prior to the wood nuggets, they always retreated under the coop during high heat (although the run is in deep shade most of the day). Now they dig down into the wood chips and stay out in the run more.
5 - they fling them everywhere, but they are easy to take back out of water or food
6 - hardly ever get any poop on my shoes when I go out to the run
7 - have done nothing to them. The girls keep them very stirred up. They've turned it into a bit of a moonscape (lots of holes and mounds), so I suppose you'd want to be careful if prone to turned ankles.
8 - I monitor the nuggets carefully, since I read stories of mold. So far, no signs. But again, we don't have a super deep layer
9 - have I mentioned how much more pleasant they are when wet?!
10 - still smells like chicken poo, but not as bad as bare earth
11 - their feet have stayed very clean
Would I use wood nuggets again? Yes, assuming we don't start having problems. Even if I have to completely remove them every few months (I don't think that will be the case), it would still be worth it. The wind doesn't blow them around (even though they are very light) and they make the run much more pleasant. I am allergic to pine, but since these are virtually dust free (at least day-to-day), it's not been a problem (pine shavings were a different story). So far, I'm thrilled with them and my girls are very happy too. Removing all 100+ square feet of the wood will be MUCH easier than the 32 square feet of sand. Note: these are wood nuggets, NOT wood mulch.
Stats: live in eastern KS, we've had less rain than normal this year, but it's been blisteringly hot and it's always humid. Coop is 32 square feet, run is 100 square foot in the main part, plus the area under the coop. My girls do not free range and I have five hens. The run is a dog kennel, so it gets a ton of fresh air (and apples from my trees, which my girls think is pretty rad).
In our coop, I changed from pine shavings to sand in late spring. I have about three inches of sand in the coop (purchased construction sand made from natural rock), which is never wet. Here are my observations so far (about 3-4 months in):
1 - holy moly, it was heavy.
2 - the poop dries and hardens very quickly
3 - very little smell
4 - a small, child's rake is the very best tool I've found for poo shoveling (compared to a pitch fork with hardware cloth.....that just kept bending and was extremely frustrating). I lightly run the rake over the sand, then scoop the poop with a cat litter scoop
5 - it is impossible to get all the poop
6 - it stays about 5 degrees cooler in the coop than the outside air. It was nearly always exactly the same temperature with pine shavings
7 - I scoop once a week (no poop boards, but the poop dries so fast and so thoroughly that there is no smell) and it takes about 5-10 minutes. I check it every day and if it seems messy, I clean more often
8 - scooping poop is extremely dusty
Will I keep using sand? Overall, I've felt sort of "meh" about sand, especially because of the dustiness. I like it much better than pine shavings, but I hated those (smelled within hours, inside of the coop was hotter and more humid, plus I'm allergic). If the choice is between sand and shavings, I'll stick with sand. I did try deep litter with pine shavings in the coop and it was awful. Sooooo many flies and probably way too dry to actually break down.
For the run, we started with the dog kennel over grass. The grass didn't last long, so it was mostly dirt. It was dusty and every time I walked in, I got poo all over the bottom of my shoes. It was AWFUL when it rained.
We decided to purchase "mini bark nuggets" from Menards, though they are not particularly "mini". The wood is pine and while there was some moisture in the bags when we bought them, they dried out very quickly. We bought enough to put about 2-3 inches down (bought exactly 12 bags, 2cu ft each and probably could have gotten away with 10....each bag was just slightly over $3). They've been down over a month. My thoughts so far:
1 - the bags were very lightweight
2 - they dry very quickly after rain
3 - no dust
4 - the girls seem to love them. They love scratching around in them (zero splintering so far and I'm unable to break them or splinter them by hand). The layer is not very deep and the dirt underneath is now beautiful and loose, so they are dirt bathing beauties. Prior to the wood nuggets, they always retreated under the coop during high heat (although the run is in deep shade most of the day). Now they dig down into the wood chips and stay out in the run more.
5 - they fling them everywhere, but they are easy to take back out of water or food
6 - hardly ever get any poop on my shoes when I go out to the run
7 - have done nothing to them. The girls keep them very stirred up. They've turned it into a bit of a moonscape (lots of holes and mounds), so I suppose you'd want to be careful if prone to turned ankles.
8 - I monitor the nuggets carefully, since I read stories of mold. So far, no signs. But again, we don't have a super deep layer
9 - have I mentioned how much more pleasant they are when wet?!
10 - still smells like chicken poo, but not as bad as bare earth
11 - their feet have stayed very clean
Would I use wood nuggets again? Yes, assuming we don't start having problems. Even if I have to completely remove them every few months (I don't think that will be the case), it would still be worth it. The wind doesn't blow them around (even though they are very light) and they make the run much more pleasant. I am allergic to pine, but since these are virtually dust free (at least day-to-day), it's not been a problem (pine shavings were a different story). So far, I'm thrilled with them and my girls are very happy too. Removing all 100+ square feet of the wood will be MUCH easier than the 32 square feet of sand. Note: these are wood nuggets, NOT wood mulch.
i spray a little lavender essential oil mix on the sand before scooping. it helps keep the dust down. 
