Quality of birds from Sand Hill Perseveration?

[ColtHandorf]

Which is sad, but not really an excuse for poor customer service and quality of birds. If you're physically incapable of caring for your birds and meeting the demands of your customers, I'm sure there would be many people willing to purchase whole flocks in the event that they liquidated to preserve them versus them dying from neglect and predation.

 

[dheltzel]

Which is sad, but not really an excuse for poor customer service and quality of birds. If you're physically incapable of caring for your birds and meeting the demands of your customers, I'm sure there would be many people willing to purchase whole flocks in the event that they liquidated to preserve them versus them dying from neglect and predation.

Are there people like that? That is in fact how Sand Hill rounded up many nearly extinct breeds in the past. Many colors of heritage turkeys would no longer exist if not for Sand Hill. The Livestock Conservancy gave them some kind of award a while back to recognize their turkey preservation efforts.
I know of no other breeders in this country working with about 20% of the breeds he keeps, if he sold off his stock, they would be extinct within a few years. Too many small breeders are "flash in the pan" when it comes to these unpopular breeds.
So maybe he should concentrate on that 20%, but those are basically breeds too rare to get noticed by new keepers and with no SOP are not of interest to show breeders. So maybe breeds like Scots Dumpies should just go extinct in the US? Survival of the fittest It guess.
I expect we will see the demise of the poultry operation at Sand Hill in our lifetime. He cannot continue on forever by himself and no young person has stepped up to take over. It is the same plight as many small farms, they make no money and it is damn hard work to keep it going. Add to the fact that most people don't really appreciate what they accomplished in the past or what they are trying to do for the future.
If a few dozen of us small time breeders would step up and each take on a few rare, but not popular breeds, for the long term, we could make a difference, but then there would no longer be a single source of so many rare genetic stocks. It is likely the only way forward once Sand Hill ceases to provide their services.
I have personally tried to establish flocks of super rare poultry, but I can only manage a few breeds, especially as sales of these rare breed are close to zero in most cases. Honestly, I think about giving up every winter when the weather gets nasty. If I do, the only way to get most of the breeds I maintain will be from Sand Hill, until he throws in the towel also, then they may be gone forever.

 

[Chickenosauurs_RexNo54]

That is worrying. I've always imagined myself buying a flock of everything from Glenn when I have the land, but I never thought that he would throw in the towel, and have no one to inherit the rare genetics that he has accumulated into one place.

 

[dusta]

I have ordered from there and will order again. I think the quality of their birds are far better than any other hatchery. Preservation means that he retains the original stature and abilities.
He is working on his own genetics and trying to get certain features. I want to get some of them. I like what some people might call gambling but in my own way I like to see how genetics work.

 

[dheltzel]

That is worrying. I've always imagined myself buying a flock of everything from Glenn when I have the land, but I never thought that he would throw in the towel, and have no one to inherit the rare genetics that he has accumulated into one place.

I'm not predicting this will happen soon, he will preserve what he can as long as he can, but I see this as a single point-of-failure for a whole lot of breeds.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Doesn't Sandhill have a lot of more common breeds also?
I see you're a huge fan, I am not. My thoughts are they're overextended and maybe they should focus more on the real rare breeds and let some of the more common breeds go so they can continue with their original goal which I believe has been getting lost.

 

[dheltzel]

Doesn't Sandhill have a lot of more common breeds also?
I see you're a huge fan, I am not. My thoughts are they're overextended and maybe they should focus more on the real rare breeds and let some of the more common breeds go so they can continue with their original goal which I believe has been getting lost.

He has been raising poultry for a long time and has seen popularity rise and wane for different breeds. I've seen that too, in less than 10 years, breeds that were common and very "hip" 8 years ago are now almost impossible to find. I wish I would not have let those go back then, but they seemed so "common" I would never have imagined they might someday be hard to find. Anyone seen a Rhodebar lately?

Even rare breeds get a head of steam and you think wow, they are really gonna make a comeback, then it all dies out. 5 or so years ago a whole bunch of people were working with Barred Hollands, there was a plan for bringing them back to the mainstream, people were doing summer picnics gathering people who were preserving them. That whole group as gone silent and the only place you can find Barred Hollands now? Yup, Sand Hill had them then, kept them even when it seemed like a lot of other people were gonna preserve them, and they still have them.

By all means, you preserve the breeds you can. I'm doing that for a few breeds. I let my Barred Hollands and Rhodebars go because no one wanted them from me anymore. So I am guilty of following the trends also. I can't do what Sand Hill does, but I can tell people he has undertaken a serious calling and I feel he should be respected for what he has accomplished, even if his chosen set of breeds doesn't match what you think deserves preservation. If we all agreed on the set of breeds that are rare and need preserving, then what becomes of the "common" breeds? We abandon them to the commercial hatcheries who will gradually turn them all into production reds with different colored feathers or other fancy doodads?

Today's common breeds might very well be tomorrow's rare or even extinct breeds.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I wasn't talking about fad type breeds I was talking about breeds that have stood the test of time. Ones that are around now, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago and more. Do they not raise any of those anymore?
Just how many breeds do they have now days? Any idea? I haven't kept up with them for a couple years. I completely understand what they are trying to do but IMO they can't do that with the amount of breeds they have/had. Do you think thats untrue? Are they overextended in your opinion?
I've ordered from them and at the time many list breeds weren't available or only in very small amounts. Would it not make sense to let some breeds go rather then keep so many that it's impossible to make much headway because they have to keep those breeds in smaller numbers?
I know when they had predator issues they had so few of several breeds that predator wiped out their entire flocks of some.
Idk I just think you can't save them all so do what you can to realistically save what you can instead of sinking the ship with unrealistic goals.

 

[Chickenosauurs_RexNo54]

I wasn't talking about fad type breeds I was talking about breeds that have stood the test of time. Ones that are around now, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago and more. Do they not raise any of those anymore?
Just how many breeds do they have now days? Any idea? I haven't kept up with them for a couple years. I completely understand what they are trying to do but IMO they can't do that with the amount of breeds they have/had. Do you think thats untrue? Are they overextended in your opinion?
I've ordered from them and at the time many list breeds weren't available or only in very small amounts. Would it not make sense to let some breeds go rather then keep so many that it's impossible to make much headway because they have to keep those breeds in smaller numbers?
I know when they had predator issues they had so few of several breeds that predator wiped out their entire flocks of some.
Idk I just think you can't save them all so do what you can to realistically save what you can instead of sinking the ship with unrealistic goals.

That does mkae sense, maybe he could split the load and send half, or part of his stock to a trusted breeder. Thats what Dave Holderread did as he got older with his waterfowl.

 

[Chickenosauurs_RexNo54]

I'm not predicting this will happen soon, he will preserve what he can as long as he can, but I see this as a single point-of-failure for a whole lot of breeds

Hopefully he has someone, or someones in mind when it does finally happen.