Have you ordered from Sandhill Preservation ??

[jossanne]

I'm waiting on Delawares from Sandhill. My first possible hatch date was April 21, which has come and gone. I understand that they are not like other hatcheries, so just wanted to ask...

On average, how long have others waited for their orders? I'm anxious for my babies! Crossing my fingers for great hatch rates for them so mine hurry up.

 

[1muttsfan]

I usually get Delawares from Sand Hill every year, but did not get an order in early enough this year. Their Dels are very good, and worth waiting for.

 

[lka88]

I'm still waiting on an order I placed last July, first possible ship date was September of last year. I've basically given up on them at this point, since I can't spend my whole summer being available for half of every second week and end up with only excuses instead of chicks again. I have 5 wk old chicks (local) in the brooder, and hopefully if they do manage to get my order out this year it will be late enough that the batches don't conflict and also that I'll be in town to deal with them...though I doubt I'll be so lucky. I'd call to make these arrangements, but they can't seem to handle getting orders out as it is...making things more complicated is unlikely to improve matters. Also, they have yet to answer any of my emails or phone calls, so it would probably be a waste of effort.

Just one man's experience thus far. I'm sure others have been more fortunate.

 

[jossanne]

Ika88, hope everything works out, that is frustrating!

Now I'm wondering about Sandhill and the avian influenza outbreak. I wonder if that is slowing things down for them. There is nothing posted about it on their website...

 

[1muttsfan]

If you read their chicken section, they are very clear that availability depends completely on how many hens they have laying, how many chicks they hatch out, and how many orders are placed for those breeds. Some of their rare birds may not be available for long periods of time. 2 years ago they had raccoons get into their pens, and totally mess up their orders for the entire season.

From their catalog -

Patience

Please remember we are not a 24-hour fast food place where you can order and expect service immediately. We are doing this as a hobby business service and we work as fast and efficiently as the time allows. We cannot guarantee specific hatch dates, as we cannot guarantee the hatch rate or laying rate of each of the many breeds that we have. We will get to each and every person that places an order - in the order the date that we receive that order in the mail. If you are impatient and absolutely have to have something by a certain date, please do us and yourself a favor and order from somewhere else. We realize the above statement seems cold and harsh, but we are simply not able to deal with creating chicks at the spur of the moment. We are at the mercy of the birds and there isn't anything that we can do to change that. We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason.

Office Hours

Our office phone is available 24 hours a day. Linda will be by the phone most Mondays and Thursdays from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central Time. We have a voice mail service now. We ask that you leave your name, number and best time to return your call. We will try to get back to you as soon as possible, although, it may not be the same day. We have lots to do here and sometimes it is impossible to deal with all the phone calls we receive. We do not make or accept phone calls on Sunday. Spring and Fall are the busiest times as so much has to be done that it may be the first rainy day before we get time to return a call.

 

[lka88]

I have read every page of their website, as potential customers should. If I needed my chicks on an exact date, I would have ordered elsewhere, and I was comfortable with a very loose estimate of ship dates. At this point we are 9 months past the first estimated ship date, though -- rather than not expecting chicks on a specific day, we're approaching not expecting chicks on a specific year. I've called twice during their "call windows", once to ask a question and once to inquire about order status once several months had passed since my ship date with no updates. Nobody ever answered. I appreciate their goals of breed preservation, but they are still a for-profit commercial hatchery, albeit an interesting one with a unique marketing angle. I am their customer, not a charitable donor, and they clearly have significantly more orders than they are able to fill. Nonexistent customer service might be edgy, but it is also highly annoying.

 

[lka88]

Update: Chicks finally arrived. Had to hustle to build another coop and boot the older chicks out of the brooder a bit early. A few chicks arrived sick/doa but the 22 remaining are thriving, so no complaints about bird quality. Overall took right around 8.5 months since my first predicted ship date.

 

[jossanne]

My babies came May 21, all alive and well. They sent 26, 15 of which were males. They are beautiful, healthy birds, who have finally started laying and life is good. We ate the roos and they were delicious.

One hen seems to be a mixed breed, with a pea comb, a thin build, and a lot of red smudging on her body feathers in addition to the barring in her neck and tail. Kind of built like an EE, but no green legs or muff like they usually have. Otherwise, a beautiful bunch of Del girls.

 

[sammerman]

I've had excellent results from Sandhill Preservation. The keys seem to be ordering ample alternative breeds and including some of the more available breeds.

It's rather like quantum mechanics: The first selection constrains the others. Really rare breeds may not agree to produce their eggs at the same interval.

The uncertain delivery window can still present occasional difficulty, but the chicks do show up within the requested season. I strive to avoid finding myself with more than two batches of new chicks at a time.