Hi there - I have ordered from Sandhill Preservation Center a couple of times. I think you can search the name and you will find both positive and negative feedback. I'd say my experience was positive overall, but my needs then may be different than yours now.
I ordered a straight run of 50 heavy breeds from them a few years ago. Along with the chicks was a list of how many of which breed were shipped, and it was so much fun to compare the list to chick ID pictures and watch them grow. There were several; RIRs, Iowa blues, black penedesenca, orloffs, silver laced and other wyandottes, RIW, salmon faverolle, mottled java, blue jersey giant, some cochin & orpington.....I still have a couple of them, as they were my very first flock and the kids had names for them all. Still seeing eggs from the ladies, although not as many as my younger stock, and I had low mortality when raising them. That was really great being it was my first batch of chicks! It was a June hatch, though, and that always increases your odds of success.
He says in his literature that he breeds for body type (meatiness of the carcass) and egg production first and coloring/other body characteristics second. I can attest that is very true. The rooster we have is what you would call a sport, for sure. He is a RIR and most of his body feathers are white & grey with a little red speckling. Like I said, the girls were laying machines, and his breast is broader and meatier than other RIR roos I've seen. I like that. The other males were good table fare, but of course the younger cockerels were only 2-3# before it got cold and they needed to be butchered - I did not have appropriate winter housing and had not heard of caponizing at that time. I never took the time to check other adult birds' body conformities to breed standards, but that RIR roo was clearly a sport, one faverolle had too few toes on one foot (but was otherwise healthy and productive), and the cochin didn't have very good feathering on the legs. He also only sells straight run - I don't have a problem using cockerels for meat, so this did not bother me. He was a little expensive compared to a hatchery, but certainly not as expensive as a show quality breeder. I think the work he's doing is important and try to order a little something from him when I can. His garden seeds are amazing, BTW. Very good germination rate, and that is really saying something for an heirloom or heritage seed producer.
If you have kids, you really can't beat the fun of trying to figure out what you have by process of elimination. I think that was the most well socialized batch of chickens I have ever owned because they were handled daily by chubby little hands (with supervision, of course). Now all the kids think chickens are old hat and are not afraid to handle them and know how to behave with the adults as well as chicks. That old rooster still comes up to us and sings a special "feed me" song every day. And you can pick this guy up and pet him and walk around with him, he is very calm with us but a good guardian of the flock.
I think this whole discussion was summarized well by someone a couple posts ago - it really depends on what you're looking for and you should try getting a little here and a little there. Cackle hatchery is a good one that someone else mentioned. I've gotten good, productive stock there as well. Their breed conformity (appearance) was better than Sandhills overall, but it still probably isn't show quality like you'd find with a local breeder. I have bought from local breeders and other backyarders, too. I try to stay away from the really huge hatcheries, just for personal reasons. If I was getting into professional breeding, not just hatching out replacements and adding new blood here and there, I'd probably go with breeders unless I had come across a hatchery that really blew my socks off.
