History
Shelton's Turkey Ranch started in 1924 with one hen and one tom that had been given to O.J. & Margaret Shelton as a wedding gift. That gift evolved into a champion turkey breeding operation that received many awards for body conformation and feather color. As an offshoot of the trophy breeding business, the Shelton family began growing holiday turkeys for the folks in the Pomona Valley of Southern California. As demand for the broad-breasted Shelton turkey grew, the emphasis was placed on growing turkeys for the holiday market.
When Fred Shelton, the second generation farmer, died suddenly in 1969, the Flanagan family, Shelton's largest distributor, purchased the company and incorporated it into their own distribution business. They soon added chicken production to the mix and eventually began manufacturing and marketing value added products to the natural foods industry.
From those humble beginnings in 1924, Shelton's has grown into one of the largest Natural Poultry marketers in the country.
Shelton's chickens, turkeys and ducks are grown in free range conditions, which is defined by the USDA as ,'having access to the out of doors'. We raise our birds without the use of antibiotics or artificial growth stimulants. If any flocks of birds become sick, they are treated with a proper antibiotic and marketed under another label.
All of Shelton's value added products are made from our natural poultry as well as the finest natural ingredients available. We use no preservatives, flavor enhancers, modified starches, irradiated spices, animal protein or any artificial ingredients. Look at our labels. They’re simple, clean, and not only can you pronounce everything, chances are if it’s a spice you’ve already got it in your kitchen cabinet. We don’t like to eat chemicals and we know you don’t either, that’s why our products contain only real honest ingredients, clearly listed and in plain language that all of us can understand without a chemistry degree.
We don't do any fancy market research when developing new products, we simply take what we know and love and make them with natural ingredients and with our natural poultry. The first criteria for a Shelton product is that it taste good. We won't sell anything that we wouldn't eat ourselves. Honest, we eat every product we sell on a regular basis.
Shelton's is a family business in the clearest sense. The company is owned and operated by one family, the Flanagan’s. In addition to our own family, we support several other family operated agricultural businesses. All of our Chickens, Turkeys and Ducks are grown by family businesses. These folks are all experts in their individual fields. We capitalize on their experience and add it to our own to make our team.
Because some of our products require specialized equipment, we also use the talents and resources of a number of co-packers. We formulate a product and have the actual manufacturing done by our co-packer, to our specifications, with our poultry as the main ingredient. That way we get to sell many more products than we would be able to make with our own limited capabilities.
In addition to the natural foods market, Shelton's poultry products are used in some of the finest restaurants on the West Coast, Arizona and Southern Nevada. The chefs in these fine-dining establishments are attracted to the quality and consistency of our chicken, turkey and duck. We fabricate sized portions of all of our poultry by hand so that they are perfectly trimmed and ready for the center of the plate. You can expect to see us to continue development of more natural poultry products. We have to; we have a lot of mouths to feed.
Try some of our products today. Visit us in person or order online.