Breeder flocks of chickens are usually housed in rectangular one-story buildings (holding approximately 8,000 birds), with the flocks changed every 12 to 15 months or so.
The middle portion of the house has litter (wood shavings), while the outer third on each side has a raised flooring of wooden slats 2.5cm apart.
The waterers and feeders are on the slatted portions, and a large part of the manure accumulates beneath the slats.
Eggs are collected by hand from nesting boxes along the inside edge of the slatted areas.
Several houses are grouped together in an operation, with feed stored in upright bins and conveyed by augers to each house.
Laying hens for commercial egg production are housed in banks of cages in several different types of houses.
Cages are stacked three or four high, with each level set back to allow manure to drop beneath all the cages.
If the stacked cages overlap, an angled dropping board (often heavy plastic) is positioned between the cage levels to divert manure away from the birds.
In the narrow house, manure accumulates beneath the cages on the dirt or concrete floor and is removed by hand or with a small tractor and scraper.
In larger houses there are back-to-back tiers of cages running the length of the house, with two to five walkways per house. These houses may be the widespan type or the high-rise type (also called deep-pit).
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