UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1350 
Washington, D. C. 
October, 1925 
BLUE-FOX FARMING IN ALASKA 
By Frank G. Ashbrook, In Charge Division of Fur Resources ; and Ernest 
P. Walker, Administrative Officer for Alaska; Bureau of Biological 
Survey 1 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Introduction 1 
What is a blue fox? 3 
Brief history of blue-fox farm- 
ing 4 
Fox-growing areas in Alaska — 5 
Selecting an island or ranch site 7 
Climate and shade 7 
Location and soil 8 
Harbor facilities 9 
Food supply 9 
Water 9 
Island area 10 
Ranch organization 10 
Structures 10 
Trap-feed houses 12 
Breeding stock and equipment 15 
Essentials of breeding 16 
Pelts 17 
Conformation 18 
Breeding IS 
Page 
Essentials of breeding — Continued. 
Time of breeding 19 
Mating 19 
Essentials of feeding 19 
Kinds of feed 20 
Methods of preparing and feeding 21 
Quantity and frequency 23 
Transportation 24 
Pelting 25 
Primeness 25 
Killing 2G 
Skinning 2G 
Drying pelts 27 
Characteristics of a good pelt 28 
Losses from depredations 29 
Sanitation and treatment of disease- 29 
Failures and abandonments 81 
Breeders' associations and ranches. 82 
White - fox farming in northern 
Alaska 32 
INTRODUCTION 
The production of blue foxes in Alaska is a comparatively new 
industry, at present confined chiefly to islands along the southern 
coast, including the Aleutian Chain (fig. 1). It is of particular im- 
portance to Alaska, since it utilizes outlying islands that are of little 
or no value for agriculture. 
In island blue- fox raising the foxes are allowed to roam over an 
entire island, where they choose their mates and make their dens. 
In the early days the foxes had to forage for their food, but now 
practically all ranchers feed them. This system has proved profit- 
able, and, together with the increased popularity of fur for apparel, 
has led many persons to lease certain islands from the United States 
1 The writers desire to acknowledge the help given in the preparation of thisi bulletin 
by the many fox farmers of Alaska in furnishing information of value, and the assist- 
ance in the section on diseases and parasites given by M, C. Hall, of the Bureau of 
Animal Industry. 
47437°— 25 1 1 
