Sept. 1894.] 



POULTRY REARING IN RUSSIA. 



13 



IY._POULTRY REARING IN RUSSIA. 



A report on Agriculture and Forestry published by the 

 Department of Agriculture of the Ministry of Crown Domains, 

 St. Petersburg, contains some information as to the condi- 

 tion of the poultry rearing industry in Russia. Poultry rearing 

 in Russia is, it appears, comparatively little developed in spite 

 of conditions favourable to the industry such as great areas 

 of free land, the abundance of cheap grain, and a moderate 

 climate in a considerable portion of the Empire. The slow 

 development is attributed to the small home demand for poultry. 

 Recently, however, foreign agents have organised regular offices 

 for the purchase of poultry and eggs, and owing to the in- 

 creasing foreign demand it has been discovered that poultry 

 rearing can be made veiy remunerative to the poorer classes, 

 especially to the peasants. 



For export Russian eggs are bought in the spring and the 

 autumn, costing from 20s. to 30s. per 1,000, the price being 

 usually highest in the autumn. They are packed, as in Western 

 Europe, in long boxes divided into two sections, with fine straw 

 between the layers, each box containing twelve great hundreds. 

 Before packing, the eggs are sorted, and only the largest ex- 

 ported, the smaller eggs being consumed locally and used in 

 albumen factories. Since 1886 Russia has exported large 

 quantities of the yolks and whites of eggs as separate products 

 in tin boxes packed in barrels. In winter, dead poultry is 

 consigned to foreign markets in a frozen state. Live fowls are 

 exported in plaited baskets made of willow boughs, from six to 

 twenty-five pairs of fowls in each crate. For sea-transportation 

 about fifty birds are put into lattice- work boxes. Besides eggs 

 and poultry, down and feathers are also exported in considerable 

 quantities. 



In 1881 the total export of poultry and poultry products 

 from Russia amounted in value to about 284,800^., while ten 

 years later these articles were exported to the value of 

 1,883,800^, The eggs and fowls are principally sent to Germany, 

 Austria, France, and England, but the prices in England are 

 said to be always higher than in the continental markets. 



Improved methods of breeding and feeding poultry are little 

 known in Russia. Artificial hatching by means of incubatoi s 

 is practised on a very small scale. Only one establishment for 

 the artificial fattening of poultry is known. Large poultry 

 yards, where birds of good breed can be obtained, are found 

 near St. Petersburg, but most farmers prefer to import bred 

 poultry from Germany, France, and England. 



