1908.] 



Marketing of Poultry. 



95 



have improved in late years, as there is not much demand for 

 eggs, and it is probable that some of the finest turkeys on the 

 market come from Ireland. Geese come in large quantities, 

 but they are bred and reared to a great extent for the live trade, 

 and are sold for feeding on the English stubbles ; they are of 

 good quality, but not large. The chief point where Irish poultry 

 fall behind the foreign supply is in the grading and packing. 

 The average weight for Irish poultry would be : Chickens, 2 J lb. ; 

 ducks, 4 lb. ; geese, 9 lb. ; and turkeys — hens, 10 lb. ; and 

 cocks up to 20 lb. 



Russian Poultry. — Chickens come chiefly from February 

 to June, although they arrive in smaller consignments all the 

 year round. The chickens are all graded and packed in boxes, 

 the birds in each box being of uniform weight ; this is a great 

 convenience both to the wholesale man and the retailer. The 

 tendency now is to a lower grade of chicken, owing to the same 

 cause as prevails in Ireland, namely, breeding for egg produc- 

 tion. Ducks are not sent in such large quantities as chickens 

 or geese, but they are graded and of fine quality. 



Geese form an important branch of the trade, and great- 

 attention is paid to the feeding, killing and packing ; they are 

 packed about twelve in a box and are of uniform weight ; each 

 bird is wrapped in paper, and they arrive looking as fresh as 

 when killed. Turkeys are comparatively unimportant, and 

 are of rather inferior quality. 



The peculiarity about the Russian trade is that all poultry 

 are killed at the same time, namely, about the second week in 

 November ; they are frozen and kept till wanted, and sent 

 over in cold storage as ordered. 



Canadian and American Poultry. — Chickens arrive chiefly 

 in the early months of the year, and a large number of the 

 frozen beef firms also handle chickens ; they are packed and 

 graded, and are generally of good quality ; when retailed they 

 are hardly distinguishable from the Russians. Cramming is 

 carried on in America and Canada to a large extent, but these 

 birds are mostly for home consumption. Interesting experi- 

 ments have been made as to the cold storage of chickens, and' 

 it has been found, from careful experiments, that birds keep 

 their weight and firmness of flesh if frozen undrawn. The 

 weights are about 2 J lb., being much the same as the 



