A handling system for transport units of live poultry in a slaughterhouse, includes an inlet station, a transfer line to receive drawer-like cages extracted from supporting frames of the transport units, and an extraction device. Between the inlet station and the transfer line a rigid receiving structure of the two stacks of drawer-like cages is interposed, vertically displaceable between a position of simultaneous receipt of the two stacks of extracted drawer-like cages and a separate depositing position of the drawer-like cages of each stack onto the transfer line.