Tips for your chick brooder

Hi guys,
Over the last three years I have become very addicted to hatching eggs - very addicted 

Thought I would share some of the methods I have found work best whilst the chicks are under heat. I have used newspaper, shavings, sawdust, old tea towels, the anti slip mats - you name it!
All of the above I have found to be very messy and a lot of work. Shavings get everywhere, newspaper is slippy and messy, the anti slip mats are not big enough, tea towels harbour bacteria.
At the moment I have 45 chicks, told you I got carried away  , I have some outside off heat and currently have 20 indoors on heat. They are split into two large dog crates lined with cardboard to keep out the draughts.
On the floors I purchased 4 rubber foot mats from Tesco, I use them the wrong way up, they are the perfect size and the chicks dont slip. Also they are only £2.50 each. I then put 3 cups of play sand in the middle, no need to spread the chicks do that.
The chicks use it as a dust bath and in doing so spread it around, the sand stops the droppings sticking to the rubber mats, and stop the droppings sticking to and balling up on the chicks feet.
To muck out i empty the sand into a bucket, rinse the mats, I then seive the dirty sand with an old plastic seive, it only takes a few minutes, put the clean sand back into the broody. It does not matter if the mats are a little damp, the sand and heat lamp take care of that. 
The chicks are kept occupied playing with the sand, drinkers and feeders stay clean and there is little waste!
Hope you find this helpful