My experience with Sandhill was fine. Of course, I went in after reading their fine print and their updates, so I wasn’t surprised by them.
we ordered several breeds to fill up a 25 chick order. We got 28 chicks. 3 died, leavingus with 25. We got about 60% females, so that was a bonus.
All breeds appeared to be pretty good representations of the breeds, show quality?....mmmm not sure but proabably needed some work I’m just not an expert here, but I do have a recent APA guide. Of the APA breeds we received from them, we did get some good birds.
we did get some cream Legbars - laid beautiful eggs!! Unfortunately all three ended up with weird growths, one recovered but the other two we culled. I sent them pics wondering what we were experiencing and they did respond promptly. Of course, just from pics can’t make a firm diagnosis, but Glen (owner) was responsive and interested. None of our other Sandhill birds experienced this issue and none of the rest of our flock did either.
I specifically placed an order with them bc they offer many breeds for a good price. We wanted many breeds, it worked for us.
as far as APA quality or show birds, I hear that a breeder hatches many but keeps maybe 10% as the other 90% have some issue or another, so receiving a non-perfect bird should not shock. As an example, this past fall we ordered all males across 8 breeds from Murray McM. Only 2 of the 16 were decent examples of their respective breeds. Two had wry tail (both same breed) which is a genetic issue in their flock. Two other breeds suffered and died from an unknown ailment, yet all the rest were fine, so a weakness in those two breeds? A genetic issue? Did they come with it? These males were raised in a brand new pen and not near the main flock. When the 4 keepers were added to the main flock, none of the main flock suffered from whatever it was that took down some of the Murray mcM birds. But, things like this happen with chicks...wish it didn’t, but it does.
overall, Sandhill is pretty open about what their objectives are. They never gave me the impression that they were selling immediate show quality or breed perfection - that doesn’t exist within a batch of chicks anyway. Read their fine print. Read their updates. They are apparently working on their pens and building new buildings. There was a long illness experienced by the wife who was in an extended care facility for months, but has recovered and is back. Their staff seems small. The owner, Glenn works as a teacher, I think. They are working on updating their website too.
I would order from them again, but I don’t have plans to right now.