The beginner is almost invariably advised to build his poultry house so as to have the front face exactly south. Why this should be so common it is rather hard to understand, for a south front is not desirable in summer, when a south window becomes as the open door of a furnace, nor is it better than east or south-east in winter, when sunshine is so valuable to poultry.
With many small backyards becoming micro farms and most of those being able to keep poultry in houses of moderate size, and semi-detached so as to give free access to light and air from four sides, it will not matter so much about the front of the house, for the light from windows will reach entirely across the building, and sunshine can strike every part of the inside, sometime during the day.
Where the poultry house is long and narrow there is good argument for an eastern frontage, as this admits the sun early in the morning in winter and shuts it out during the hottest part of the day in summer.
If such a house has a liberally large window in the south end it will get more benefit from the sunshine in winter than it would if built to face directly south.
There is a very good argument in favor of a southeastern front, as this catches the warm rays of the sun early in winter and allows them access to the house until nearly noon.
We have seen a very comfortable arrangement where the only convenient frontage was directly to the north and a west front is not always entirely objectionable, as for instance on the east coast, where the east wind is sometimes very bitter.
Generally speaking, it may be said that a southern, southeastern or eastern exposure are about equally comfortable and desirable. The main thing is plenty of window room on the sunny side. If that is provided, a principal difficulty encountered in building poultry houses is overcome.
It is pretty well settled that the poultry house of the future will be almost square and face four ways. When this style of poultry architecture becomes common the question of frontage will cease to trouble us. – G. H. R.