SandHill Preservation review

JacinLarkwell said:

Honestly, I'd be up for trying their birds in the future, the only downsides are how they accept payment and that they don't have concrete dates for shipping. I can't just take off time all of a sudden to accept chicks, I have to plan it ahead by a few months.

Maybe it's changed since I last looked, but that's what stopped me the first time.

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It does help if you have a lot of flexibility. I work from home and forget the time constraints of others in that regard. It does add some complexity to getting chicks from Sand Hill.
The way it works is you get no notice until a Tuesday evening, when you get a call with the tracking number. Typically that means your chicks will arrive at your PO on Thursday around noon, but it could be Friday sometime, or even Wednesday. Really hard to schedule anything around that. Getting someone else to pick them up while you are at work is not the best, because they really need some specialized care after the stress of traveling.

dheltzel said:

It does help if you have a lot of flexibility. I work from home and forget the time constraints of others in that regard. It does add some complexity to getting chicks from Sand Hill.
The way it works is you get no notice until a Tuesday evening, when you get a call with the tracking number. Typically that means your chicks will arrive at your PO on Thursday around noon, but it could be Friday sometime, or even Wednesday. Really hard to schedule anything around that. Getting someone else to pick them up while you are at work is not the best, because they really need some specialized care after the stress of traveling.

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I'll check the website again sometime today and go over it all again I do love the different breeds they've managed to get, my schedules just haven't worked out.

Either way, I wouldn't have a pen for them until I move, so unfortunately it's probably for the best that ordering isn't going to work out currently

CGilbert said:

First, I want to start with the fact that I completely support Sandhill: the preservation of rare breeds; especially when there are only 2 people mainly doing it and at least one of those works full time.

Sandhill requires that all orders come in through mail and have check or money order. I sent mine off on 8/17/15. I rec'd my confirmation letter dated 9/1/15. I found out that they only process orders on weekends, so if it's not there by Friday or Saturday, it'll get processed the next weekend.
I put that I was ok with ANY date for receiving my chicks because I expected them to be sold out for this year and possibly part of next. They put the first ship date as 9/22 and the second as 10/6. In their letters they clearly state that they will not call if birds do not ship, but will call the day they do. So when they didn't call on 9/22, I didn't worry (too much). I figured they'd be shipped on the 2nd ship date (10/6... today). I have been waiting anxiously all day and have not rec'd a call yet (7pm PST-where I am, 9pm CST-where they are).

I have a lot of faith in Sandhill based on all the reviews I've read, but want to post my own experience.

I will post updates as I get them: When I get the call, when I receive them, how they mature, how many I lose, personalities, etc.

PS: I ordered 10 Colored Dorkings, 2 Red Dorkings, 3 Ancona chickens, 5 single comb White Dorkings, and 5 rose comb White Dorkings. They informed me that their White Dorkings are not available this year and will be sent in the spring.

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I got LaFleche from them several years ago. The birds went on to win major shows and the line is still going in this part of the country and has been very successful. Very happy with the quality of the birds I got from them.

Phaedra Winters said:

Idk about them tbh. Lot of this stuff is ridiculous sounding or made up and I only say that because first his wife was sick and then there was a mink and then raccoons and oppossums and I'm not saying all of this totally isn't plausible however even before all that there were issues with people's orders and in 2018, which is right when his wife got sick, he picked up new breeds?? I think this is a case of their eyes bigger than their stomachs for a noble cause. Maybe I'm wrong and I don't mean it offensively but like, it seems possible.

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It's because it's just two people running it...two older people....who also work full time jobs. They send so many extra chickens and so many shipping fees if you can't do all your order at once, that they don't make much. They are doing the best that they can and I've been impressed with them.

dheltzel said:

Some of his new breeds that year were ones I donated to Sand Hill to preserve them. They list a lot of breeds that are very hard to impossible to find anywhere else. I know because I am the only other source of some of his bloodlines and my operation is too small to handle shipping. I really feel for them, running a preservation center in their spare time is a lot of work without much reward (he has a full time job as a high school science teacher).
If you want ordinary breeds, like buff orpingtons or barred rocks, you can get them anywhere, but if you want to make black sexlinked Ameraucanas (as an example), I think you will have a tough time finding cuckoo Ameraucanas anywhere else. Patience and flexibility are necessary to have a good experience with Sand Hill, but for the really rare stuff, it is worth the wait.

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What breeds did you donate to him? I am very interested in rare breeds of chickens and I would like to order something rare.

Debbie09011970 said:

What breeds did you donate to him? I am very interested in rare breeds of chickens and I would like to order something rare.

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Chickens:
Lavender, Cuckoo and Lavender Cuckoo Ameraucanas, Genetic Hackle, Breda Fowl, Ayam cemani, Ayam ketawa, Lavender and Mottled black Cochin bantams, Opal Legbars, Welbars, Lavender Marans, Swedish Flower Hens.
Ducks:
Australian Spotted and Shetlands
Geese:
Embden and Pilgrims

Could be others I don't recall now. Not everything does equally well for everyone and they struggle to maintain some breeds I find very prolific (Welbars and bantam Ameraucanas for ex) and I have totally abandoned some of those breeds as just unsuitable for my conditions and husbandry. There is no accounting for taste either. I never liked Breda Fowl when I kept them, but Glen loves them. He tries to maintain a vast genetic repository, something I am not able to do. I have other strengths, and so I can obtain and improve some breeds he does not have access to, then send those precious genetics to Sand Hill for more long term preservation and distribution.

And the exchange works both ways, Sand Hill is sending me a few breeds that I wish to work with on some future (secret!) projects. The results of those projects will hopefully work their way back to their expansive collection. There are a number of breeds they have which have (for all practical purposes) no other source. Sure, if you search diligently, you might find another source for Iowa Blues or Barred Hollands, but those small producers are even harder to order from than Sand Hill, and if you ask enough questions, you will likely find out the Sand Hill was the source for those breeders as well.

It frustrates some potential customers to not be able to call into a hatchery office to order their chicks via credit card for delivery next week. There are plenty of hatcheries that offer that service and they are not competitors of Sand Hill. In fact, they are more likely customers of SH, sourcing some rare line from them to introduce to their customers. This is very much the way things should work if you think about it. The experienced breeders, either small time like me, or actual hatcheries, get small numbers of breeders from Sand Hill, then figure out how to manage and maintain them for sale to their customers.

Hatcheries must keep an eye on their bottom line, for the sake of their employees as well as their owners. Sand Hill does not have employees or owners expecting a return on investment, so they can keep breeds that have essentially zero interest, until the time when they are hot commodities again. I see them as filling an important niche between people like me and the hatcheries.

How are their ayam cemani chicks

X43smitty said:

How are their ayam cemani chicks

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They are from my flock and I have more pics and videos on my website: http://welbars.com/index.php/ayam-cemani

I don't advertise them much so I can avoid ruffling the feathers of the groups of people that believe that since they sell their chicks for $200 each, anyone selling them for less MUST be selling inferior quality.
I just like having nice birds. The first pic on my web page is a cock that is running feral on the farm because he has a floppy comb. Still, someone could come in, scoop him up, and have a sire that would likely improved their cemani flock immeasurably. The floppy comb does not seem to be seriously heritable (unlike leakage of other colors - that will destroy all the beauty of a line if you breed from those males). Still, I have so many extra cockerels, I have to cull for something.

Buying those AC from Sand Hill is a super deal. I told him he is pricing them too low and that people will assume they are low grade if he has a low price.

I got white polish and a barred breed from Sandhill oh and some Jersey giants. They were all good birds. The polish were very healthy for being polish..