Sand Hill Preservation Center

[madamiec]

So many people complain about not receiving answers by email when the catalog and website clearly states they do not do business by email. They are not a hatchery and you should not expect them to operate like one. They also clearly state that if you want a specific ship date to shop elsewhere.

 

[poultrified]

I felt I needed to add my experience about SandHill...I recently ordered 50 chicks and they arrived in good condition. I live in California so I used the express shipment which was $54. I lost 7 out of the 51, within the first 2 weeks.
15 Asst. Marans ( got 13 cuckoos and 2 blue copper - one died and the other one had deformed toes/stuck together)
5 Blue Orpingtons (only 1 seems blue the other 4 are whitish and they were ALL MALES)
5 Assorted Orpingtons (got all black, also looks like only two are female)
25 assorted heavy chicks (I got dominiques, SLW, GLW) priced at only $1.65 each
all for a total of $215.25/incl. shipping

I have another order on the way in June but I called, emailed, several times to cancel. I'll tolerate the 25% cancellation fee. It just wasn't worth the $$ for getting mostly males and I'm very disappointed. Perhaps it's just coincidence..LOL but have not gotten any response yet and I will never buy from them again. The chicks were not of any exceptional quality than what I would find at the feed store for a fraction of the cost....

 

[popsicle]

I felt I needed to add my experience about SandHill...I recently ordered 50 chicks and they arrived in good condition. I live in California so I used the express shipment which was $54. I lost 7 out of the 51, within the first 2 weeks.
15 Asst. Marans ( got 13 cuckoos and 2 blue copper - one died and the other one had deformed toes/stuck together)
5 Blue Orpingtons (only 1 seems blue the other 4 are whitish and they were ALL MALES)
5 Assorted Orpingtons (got all black, also looks like only two are female)
25 assorted heavy chicks (I got dominiques, SLW, GLW) priced at only $1.65 each
all for a total of $215.25/incl. shipping

I have another order on the way in June but I called, emailed, several times to cancel. I'll tolerate the 25% cancellation fee. It just wasn't worth the $$ for getting mostly males and I'm very disappointed. Perhaps it's just coincidence..LOL but have not gotten any response yet and I will never buy from them again. The chicks were not of any exceptional quality than what I would find at the feed store for a fraction of the cost....

Thanks for the info poultrified. Now I will at least avoid any "assorted" options when-and-if I ever order.

 

[NYREDS]

So many people complain about not receiving answers by email when the catalog and website clearly states they do not do business by email. They are not a hatchery and you should not expect them to operate like one. They also clearly state that if you want a specific ship date to shop elsewhere.

Oh, you're one of those people who reads things & actually understands what they read. How annoying.

 

[NYREDS]

I felt I needed to add my experience about SandHill...I recently ordered 50 chicks and they arrived in good condition. I live in California so I used the express shipment which was $54. I lost 7 out of the 51, within the first 2 weeks.
15 Asst. Marans ( got 13 cuckoos and 2 blue copper - one died and the other one had deformed toes/stuck together)
5 Blue Orpingtons (only 1 seems blue the other 4 are whitish and they were ALL MALES)
5 Assorted Orpingtons (got all black, also looks like only two are female)
25 assorted heavy chicks (I got dominiques, SLW, GLW) priced at only $1.65 each
all for a total of $215.25/incl. shipping

I have another order on the way in June but I called, emailed, several times to cancel. I'll tolerate the 25% cancellation fee. It just wasn't worth the $$ for getting mostly males and I'm very disappointed. Perhaps it's just coincidence..LOL but have not gotten any response yet and I will never buy from them again. The chicks were not of any exceptional quality than what I would find at the feed store for a fraction of the cost....

If they arrived healthy Sand Hill did their part. If a chick dies 2 weeks after you get them how is that the hatcheries fault?
Blue breeding produces blue, black & splash. No hatchery that sells any blue vafriety ships all blue chicks.
Your 25 assorted heavy chicks were $1.65 each? That's pretty cheap. What feed store sells chicks for a fraction of that cost?
As to the quality you must be a better chicken man than I am if you can look at a chick & determine the bird's quality.
Sandhill doesn't sex chicks. People assume that straight run should yield 50% male & 50% female but it doesn't work that way in small numbers. If you bought 10,000 chicks you'd get about even numbers but it's unreasonable to expect that when you order 5. When I started with Rhode Island Red Bantams many years ago I started with 3 dozen hatching eggs. They hatched well: 33 of the 36 hatched. I got 29 cockerels & 4 pullets. Your order might just as easily have been mostly female. If you weren't willing to take the chance of gettting a lot of males you should have ordered from a hatchery that sexes chicks.

 

[cubalaya]

Oh, you're one of those people who reads things & actually understands what they read. How annoying.

lol

i don't really see anything to complain about. i would buy chicks or seed from them if i needed to.

 

[sandspoultry]

A friend of ours ordered Bourbon Red turkeys from them last year and ended up getting rid of eveything they got. Every one of the toms had some solid red tail feathers instead of the white that they should have. A few had up to 1/2 red tail feathers.

 

[poultrified]

I'm just stating MY experience, and not posting to be opinionated against or shot down on my feelings about this. I never said I "blamed" them for the chicks I lost. This is common place and I know that. I've been raising chickens for quite sometime. I don't need any unwanted advice.
I have ordered chicks from may other hatcheries, breeders, etc.. To find ones I like in particular. I'm not looking for show quality from hatchery stock by any means - Perhaps I was wrong in expecting even a little more quality. I was excited to get some rarer breeds such as the blue/lavendar orpingtons or black cooper marans. For the total price I paid I do think it was pricey, and regrettable. And I got 8 males out of the ten orpingtons. I understand how the blue gene works. I breed the blue color myself in other breeds....However I did specifically ordered "blue", and that was confirmed to be sent, with no substitutions. The chick color after hatch is pretty obvious. At $7 a pop and be unlucky to get mostly males I'll stick to hatching eggs. FYI, I normally do buy straight run, and even in smaller quanities it's roughly 50/50.
I have learned my lesson - I hope someone else out there has a better experience with them. Don't bash or knock someone for their input! Just rude.

 

[cmom]

So many people complain about not receiving answers by email when the catalog and website clearly states they do not do business by email. They are not a hatchery and you should not expect them to operate like one. They also clearly state that if you want a specific ship date to shop elsewhere.g.

I recently found out that the descendants of my Rose Comb Rhode Island Whites came from Sand Hill Preservation. I have never ordered any birds from them. They do state in their catalog and website that they do not do business by email. I show my birds and they have placed well at the shows they have been at, Best of Breed, Best Variety, Reserve Breed and Reserve Variety. If there is something about the birds the judges will grade them accordingly. On one of my birds the judges commented that there should be more yellow in the legs so with this years breeding I have concentrated on the legs and am ready to show this fall with birds with nice yellow legs.


Good luck and have fun...

 

[WisteriaPath]

I'm very new to all this, but i liked what i got from Sand Hill. They may not be show quality, but they are definitely Jersey Giants, and there are some nice ones among them too, plus they all have the nice disposition that their breed is supposed to have.

I was a little disappointed that all but one of the blues i purchased ended up being splashes. Oh well splashes are valuable too and i understand that there's some amount of risk involved with young unsexed chicks as far as what they'll grow up to be. I guess they're breeding black and splash to make their blues because the one blue i got was darker and very pretty plus that combo would yield more splashes instead of getting 100% lighter blues yielded by splash and black. They were actually 50-50% males vs females. Sand Hill took care of me and i plan to buy from them again, though i may purchase a fancy show rooster from a breeder someday when i have the money to blow. I think what i got from Sand Hill is a good start, i just need to work on them and learn the breeder secrets, plus i appreciate the fact that they try to keep genetic diversity.. no hillbilly chickens for me! To me the price was not bad, but then i don't have an incubator and have never hatched eggs before, so it was worth it.