I like to clean my coops most days,it stops the build up of amonia and you get to get in with the birds.Also i have seen pictures of roosting bars piled with crusted faeces unless they are scraped daily.This to me is the same as walking in the stuff on the floor.If you only have a few hens its no hardship to poo pick,2 minutes and your done
If you "paint" the perches with a slurry made from a dilute disinfectant and Diatom. Add powder to the liquid and mix to a batter like consistancy. Use disinfectant like Vanodine V18 which is iodine based and stays active even on dirty surfaces. It dies to a caked powdery surface which is very drying and to which droppings don't stick, so is easy to scrape clean. Paint into corners too so that it deters Red Mite which can't colonise in such dry conditions. If you are careful and scrape you only need to apply it every 3 months or so depending on wear.
It's quite effective and helps solve the RM problem. Also washing perches in winter it's difficult to get them dry before you re admit the chx. If you use the paint idea and scrape in winter there's no problem.
It's the scratting in and picking through dirty litter you want to try and avoid. Poo picking is just cosmetic to some extent. Though it does help, the litter still becomes contaminated and they do pick in it and eat it.
As a litter material softwood shavings are absorbant and have a well established natural antiseptic quality so help to reduce bacteria. I don't think Hemcore which I sometimes use has this benefit as it's mostly fibrous celulite and pretty sterile and inert. People none the less like the citrus aroma it's impregnated with and ease of use.
HF