About Our Turkeys

Valley of the Moon Turkeys trace their heritage back to the original lines bred by George Nicholas in Sonoma, California.

In 1937 George Nicholas began breeding and selling the highest quality turkeys from his ranch in the hills of Sonoma Valley. This tradition now continues in the hills of West Virginia where we produce white turkeys year round and colored turkeys on a seasonal basis.  All of our turkeys are fed an all vegetable diet and are approved by the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP)

In the early history of the turkey industry, all turkeys were bronze.  It was in the early 1950’s that George Nicholas saw the potential for developing a strain of large white turkeys. One story goes that when he was helping out in a chicken processing plant, he noticed that the white chicken feathers came out more easily and didn’t leave the discoloration on the skin that the bronze ones sometimes did. The development of the white strain began in 1953 and by 1959 the Nicholas White was introduced and thus began the industry’s transition from broad breasted bronze to large white turkeys. There has now been a resurgence in the demand for a bronze turkey and more traditional birds.

Today the legacy of George Nicholas continues and we are pleased to offer Bronze, Black and White poults and eggs directly to growers in traditional farm fresh markets.