BTW, the reason you never heard of these things until the industrial production of chickens began was, alas, the industrial style was in vogue even back a couple of centuries ago.
Just look at the model chicken coop recommended for the family farm by USDA. My grandfather's held over a thousand chickens.
So far, my chickens have died of broken necks when I get ready to eat them, not sure where you are getting all this pandemic stuff. The USDA wasn’t around 200 years ago. Tell me a little more about your grandfather’s chicken house. Did it have individual cages, was there an outside run, how were the birds fed and watered? I’ve never raised more than a household size flock.