Excerpts from the report Preface: A study was conducted in the warehouses of typical independent poultry and egg wholesale distributors in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., by the Handling and Facilities Research Branch of the Transportation and Facilities Research Division, Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. The report is based on studies of facilities under actual operating conditions, to determine the feasibility of modernizing outdated plant structures. Modern specialized service needs were considered, and remodeling was judged to be in feasible. New structures and layouts that would provide facilities capable of operating with efficiency, flexibility, and good sanitation are described in the report. The structure and layout recommendations provide guidelines for facilities similar in dimensions to those in multiple-occupancy warehouses located in modern food-distribution centers. They also provide flexibility that permits a choice of service operations in a single layout at commodity volume levels and combinations prevalent in today's wholesale poultry and egg business.