HERITAGE TURKEYS

The Ridley Bronze Turkeys

Few poultry breeds have quite the history that the Ridley Bronze has. Originally hybridized by John Richardson of Saltcoats, Saskatchewan in the 1940’s from various stock he collected around Canada and possibly the USA, the breed eventually made its way to the University of Saskatchewan via George Ridley who’s family acquired the breed in the late 1970’s.

By 1981 the Ridley family had gotten out of turkey farming and the breeding program at the University was shut down in 2008, dispersing their flock to private breeders across Canada. As a result the breed had all but disappeared, and as of 2010 it was determined that there were only 90 breeding females left in all of Canada.

As the years went on the numbers never really increased significantly, and a study in 2015 determined there were then still only 250 breeding females in all of Canada, with only 30 active breeders. To date, in 2024, there is no data on the number of breeding females but we do know that multiple crosses have occurred from various breeders that lead to a recessive white gene (bb Cc) and disqualifies those genetics from being truly pure-bred Ridley Bronze Turkeys.

Conservation

Many conservation breeding projects across Canada are underway today and we are proud to be participating in the stewardship of this iconic Canadian turkey breed. At this point, given the number of breeders in Canada raising Ridley Bronze Turkeys, it’s hard to determine if they are still Critically Endangered, but it is likely that the pure-bred stock distributed by the University of Saskatchewan is still reasonably At Risk.

We hope to offer hatching eggs as soon as possible, but we must first verify the genetics of our stock and ensure they are true pure-bred Ridley Bronze Turkeys so we are not, as well as many other breeders, providing a hybridized turkey that appears to be a Ridley Bronze most of the time, but has other turkey breed genetics introduced by less scrupulous breeders.

Other Turkey Breeds

Once we determine the purity of our Ridley Bronze Turkey stock we can consider introducing other breeds. If our stock is not pure-breed then we can either acquire proper Ridley Bronze from a verified breeder or we can expand on other breeds - but with any at risk or endangered breed the priority is in the purity of the stock and raising multiple breeds with the Ridley Bronze and risking cross-breeding between them is not prudent.