Generally it goes okay. I had a pair of chickens shipped to me in VT from CA and they made it in the normal two days all the way across the country. So sometimes things go wrong (and I've definitely had things go wrong with bird shipments before), but most of the time it goes smoothly.
I'm shooting for coronation :) I have my first gen crosses now, light brahma rooster bred to lavender brahma hens. The chicks are black. From here, I will cross the chicks together which theoretically will yield various things, but I want the lavender and lavender patterned silver columbian...
I hear you about time. I just decided to embark on a brahma project, which could get interesting. I have my first generation chicks growing out. I'm working with lavender so this will probably take some time and several generations to get this done.