Ridley is a rather complicated but interesting story. I'm not going to take the time to look up specific details, but instead work off the top of my head. Some specifics may not be exactly accurate, but you'll still get a good idea of the overall picture. I'll start by sharing seperate individual stories, and then we will try to knit them together.
The Rare Breeds Canada liturature I've read suggests that the first primitive broad breasted birds arrived in Langley BC from the UK. This raises questions for me, but I'll stay on track. From there they spread out going west and south, triggering a revolution in the turkey industry. Some lines maintained and refined the primitive broad breasted body type while other continued selecting for additional meat, leading to the modern day factory broad breasted bird.
Decades ago, there was a hatchery in the Canadian Prairies (Anstey? Hatchery) that sold primitive broad breasted poults produced by a Mr Ridley. When the Hatchery announced that they were going to no longer sell those poults, Dr Crawford bought a bunch and initiated his University version of the Ridley line. By the time the University was done (3 decades later), the line had shrunk by an average of 10 pounds per bird and their growth rate slowed to needing roughly 9 months to reach market condition. Traditionally, a decent line needs roughly 6 months.
However, in conversations with Bob Gunter, an old retired traditional turkey farmer who was born on an old traditional turkey farm (you get the picture), I learned his farm also did business with the same prairie hatchery. So in a sense, his family has also kept their own version of the Ridley line but because they were utilizing it comercially, maintained the commercial properties that made the Anstey Bronze so popular in the first place. Yes, folks, the true original Ridley was a hatchery production bird.
Around 2003? after my Rochester Broad Breasted Bronze broke the rules and mated naturally, I started asking questions. I bought the poults (along with some whites) strictly as food and to test my ability of raise turkeys and chickens together. I had no intention of breeding turkeys. However, thanksgiving came and went and only the whites found their way to slaughter, the bronze intrigued me. They were defying all the rules. I studied them intently, looking for answers to the questions they produced. By the time Christmas came, they were laying fertile eggs and I just knew that there was more to them than basic factory bird. Their fate changed from food to breeding stock and I changed from Araucana breeder to Araucana/turkey breeder.
I phoned up Rochester looking for answers and eventually I got a call back from their Bronze turkey breeder. I must of got him on a good day because we had an excellent conversation where he gave me all kinds of history and advice on their line. I found it interesting to note that Kardoch Bronze is in the pedigree which becomes evident when one studies head/neck/caruncles of various bronze lines. I also learned that the Rochester was not a true modern Broad Breasted bird. When pressed for why they advertised it as Broad Breasted, he said that it was an older version of the broad breasted and has always been advertised as broad breasted since it's inception.
Around 2003/4? I met a friend up Island who was also raising real heritage turkeys. He got his from Bill Braden in Ontario. He had Ridley and Kardoch Bronze and he introduced me to Bob Gunter, the seasoned turkey breeder I mentioned above. My observations on that day were that the Gunter birds were indistinguishable from my Rochester birds. The Kardoch had impressive form, but seemed to be a step back from the Gunter Birds. The Ridley seemed to have more in common with a wild bronze than the Gunter birds. My first perception with the Ridley is shaped by repeated conversations with this friend and my personal observations of his birds. FWIW, my observations are consistent with notes produced by the university itself.
In 2010, a friend from the Duncan area let me observe her turkeys and amongst them were some Ridley shipped in from Performance Hatchery that year. I was impressed with the growth rate and comformation. They were very much like the Rochester Bronze and if the two lines were allowed to intermingle, one would have a tough time distinguishing one from the other. They are also very much like the Gunter birds with one very interesting exception. The Gunter birds are not as friendly and not as quick to get their bellies rubbed. Both the Performance Ridley and Rochester bronze love having their bellies rubbed. I believe this clue reveals a little secret about their selective history.
I can only speculate what has been done to the Performance version of the Ridley, but will say with absolute certainty that they are not the result of simply selecting from within the university genepool alone. One cannot make such a drastic change in that short period of time without first outcrossing to bring in the missing traits. You cannot selecvt for what doesn't exist.
I do not say this as a condemnation of Performance, I believe that outcrossing the Univerity version was the only responsible option if it was to be marketed to backyarders in support of heritage turkey conservation. The University version was a waste of feed and desperately needed outcrossing. And I do believe that there is room for such an outcross to be made while maintaining a position of integrity. Anstey hatchery supplied alot of bronze poults to alot of private turkey breeders across North America. Just like is the case with the Gunter flock here on the island, some of these flocks live on functioning in obscurity today. For all we know, maybe even the Rochester version of the Bronze can be traced back to Anstey Hatchery.
The Orlopp story is different. While they bought an old family line, and are using this fact to confuse the heritage turkey marketplace, a few key distinguishing facts need to be remembered:
1) what is currently being sold as Orlopp is not the same bird traditionally sold as Orlopp. The version they are marketing is a factory hybrid, not a traditional pure breeding line.
2) They own the rights to the name and genepool. As far as I know, the Ridley bronze sold by Performance are still public domain in name and genepool.
