Does a Mesh head manure fork exist?

My horses are stalled and grind their poop into fragments even a fine-tined manure fork can’t pick up – but they are still big enough that it bugs me.

I found a sand flea rake, and I saw a DIY method of attaching mesh to a regular fork w zipties, but I thought I saw a mesh head fork before. It sort of looked like a giant kitty litter scoop.

Following. I ‘made’ one by doing exactly that and while it worked great for a while, the mesh eventually bends. Currently using a 3x4 section of mesh that I have bent on one end, and scoop, shake, dump manure bits. I’m a little retentive, and this makes me feel better about the one stall that is a mess every day, but it is a workout with lots of stretching.

There used to be a scoop shovel on the market that had an expanded metal basket, but they stopped making those awhile ago (IIRC!)

There’s this:

Or this:

Or this:

Or, buy some hardware mesh and line one of your existing forks. Zip ties work, but actually wiring the mesh on is probably sturdier. I made up one for cleaning the chickens, and it does work well.

Sold!

I never thought of looking for “shovel.” Can’t decide between first two! A choice, woohoo!

Thx!

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Here’s one more that looked kinda neat!

And–ah-ha–this is the one I was thinking of, but, alas, definitely doesn’t seem to still be in production.

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Wow, you are finding those quickly. The Union Jack one with the long holes might not be any better than my fine-tined fork. I think I really need “holes.”

The See-Through one is sort of what I remember, too!

I think I am going to go with the Amazon one, just because it will be easy to return if needed, but the Athletic one looks really good, too.

Sifter, shovel are the new search terms!

The one thing I’ll point out about the first amazon one is it’s just not very wide. It’s really the same form factor as a square ended dirt shovel. Here’s another listing for it–9 1/2 inches:

https://www.zoro.com/seymour-midwest-toolite-mudsifting-square-shovel-48-in-handle-49502gr/i/G1142382/

There are definitely a few of these types of things out there! “Sieve shovel” or “sifter shovel” will pull them up. I debated buying something like this to clean out the chicken bedding, but I’m cheap! Using left over hardware mesh hit my price point :wink:

Hmmm… might be too late. I didn’t think of looking at width.

I ordered the amazon one with the 48" handle. It’s dimensions seem to be 11 inches. The 29" handled one says “9 inches.” Maybe I’ll be lucky.

I think that Athletic one looks the best.

(All the reviews seem to be for chicken coops! How are you using the hardware mesh? Someone at my barn suggested using that and throwing shovelfuls in it – but that seemed like more work.

I took a basket manure fork and carefully lined it with hardware mesh, securing with zip ties. It worked well although wiring the mesh would’ve been better, and covering that leading edge of mesh/tines with a thin solid piece of metal (flashing, maybe?) would’ve been ideal.

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I had one years ago, the only issue was it scooped everything up making it difficult to just pick at the pieces of poop and difficult to sift out the larger pieces of shavings if you use a larger size bedding. I gave up on it very quickly. I would suggest trying a cheap version of one to see if it will work for you.

I’m totally ordering one of these for cleaning the goat pen.

Great find @Simkie.

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Luckily, for me, the ground up bits are in the DG portion of the corral, and there is just DG and miniflakes that make it out that far.

I will post back on my success. It is supposed to arrive next week.

I think I remember seeing one in the threads here that was maybe from Europe and has now been discontinued or was never available here?

I am in full service board, but have my own manure fork, regularly pick between cleanings, and am also perturbed by the tiny pieces of ground up poop that evade the finest of fork tines. The vibrating sifters seem like a good idea in theory, but are unwieldy, seem like they would kick up a lot of dust and I can’t see them working with larger bedding, and would likely be a no-no with my dramatic asthmatic anyways.

Look forward to following to see if anyone finds a cheaper solution they love.

Could you report back on weight? I’m looking at the images and they all appear to look a bit heavier than I’m willing to lift and sift with.

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This sand flea rake was the only thing I could find initially. It might alleviate any weight issue because you drag it. I just though it would be difficult to empty.

(I sure hope I don’t end up with a collection of these trying to solve a problem that doesn’t bother anyone but me!)

Let me know how it works on goat berries! I attached hardware mesh to a regular fork but it’s heavy and doesn’t do a great job. :confused:

For the horsewoman who has everything, look what google popped up!

https://manurefork.com/shop-stable-forks/ols/products/shaken-fork-for-auto-sifting-of-shavings

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Ok, who’s going to try it??? Looks interesting.

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those I rake to where the specific horse pees, then cover over with clean shavings

For the most part the seven head we have that are stalled at least some part of a day are fairly respective of their stalls expect the one who wants to please that has the belief that I enjoy the hunt for manure

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I can use a metal “spring” rake to gather up a lot of the small bits, and I think I would do that first and then pick up with the sieve shovel. I think… it is supposed to arrive tomorrow.