Most commercial meat chicken farms are intensive, highly mechanised units that occupy relatively small areas compared with conventional farming. Commercial broilers are run on litter floors in large open poultry sheds. They are not kept in cages.

Meat chickens are farmed in Australia in large open poultry houses that are often called ‘sheds’, ‘houses’ or ‘units’. Shed sizes vary, but a typical new shed would be 150 metres long and 15 metres wide and hold about 40,000 chickens. The largest sheds can contain up to 60,000 broiler chickens. There may be between 3 and 10 sheds on the one farm. A typical new farm, however, would house approximately 320,000 chickens, with each of eight sheds holding approximately 40,000 chickens.

Feed and clean water is available to the chickens 24 hours a day. The exception to this, a practice which is sometimes employed by some operators, is making feed available at a number of discrete 'meal times' in the day.

The chickens have adequate lighting to see by and to find feed and water, with some periods of darkness each day to allow them to rest and also to avoid panic in the event of a blackout. The lighting provided is usually dimmer than natural lighting, as dimmer lighting tends to promote calmness in flocks of meat chickens.

The farmer regularly checks shed temperature, humidity and air quality and adjusts the operation of his sheds accordingly. In many sheds, these factors are monitored automatically and adjusted by computer controllers. All mechanically operated sheds have back-up electricity and alarm systems which alert the farmer if there is a problem with the functioning of the shed or supply of inputs to it.

The farmer also checks his flocks regularly, to monitor the health and progress of the flock, to remove any dead birds, and to cull any sick or injured ones. Feeders and waterers are regularly checked to ensure that they are working and to correct any spillages. Careful management of ventilation and waterers helps to maintain the litter in a clean, dry and friable condition. Poor litter management will impact on air quality and can lead to reduced bird health and performance and carcass downgrading at the processing plant.

Over the life of the broiler flock only about 4% of chickens are lost and these are through natural causes or culling.

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