Sandhill Preservation Center - Breeds

[SFIcelandics]

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All my marans are out of dark eggs - but none of my birds are currently laying! Im hoping to start shipping mid-march or so!

My welsummers are dark egg layers, large-x large eggs, and lay very well - usually out of about 8 hens, 2 roosters, I get 6-8 eggs per day all summer day!

Nate

(singing) All summer daaaaaaaaaaaaay!
I'm working on the raaaaaaaaaailroad, alllllllllll day long!

I guess I missed the day part - lol - my fingers were cold, and not working I guess - been cold up here, and i do emails when taking breaks from doing chores.

LOL

 

[fifelakelooper]

I have been reading this and was alarmed at the beginning of the topic when people were complaining of Sandhill Preservation. I just ordered 25 chicks from them....believing them to have good quality chicks. Glad you put this post out...it made me feel better. I do intend to take my camera to the post office as told when they arrive so I can check to see they all arrived live and healthy. I ordered Blue Jersey Giants and Blue Orpingtons. I hope to get them in April or May but have not had confirmation yet. I will see how it goes and will let everyone know how they seem on arrival...and throughout their growing. I talked on the phone to someone prior to my ordering who had Blue Jersey Giants from there and he was very happy with them. I hope more people put out positive experiences meanwhile on this topic so I won't fret for the next few months thinking I should have gone to someone else.











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[Oldhound]

I agree with Blacksheep Cardigans , as a former long time dog breeder/exhibitor/handler on choosing a source to fit your needs. My experience with Mr Drowns of Sandhill has been very good. The BBR Cubalayas I ordered are of very good type , with the minor faults here and there that one Should expect when breeding any purebred animal especially a rare one with a limited gene pool . The hatcheries that sell "sexed chicks" to satisfy buyers who want only pullets have to hire people to sex chicks end up killing the excess day old males . Sandhill chooses not to do this . Oh they held my payment for a while and notified me when they set my eggs and gave a hatch date. For those who want instant gratification and total uniformity you will be happier with utility birds from one of the Big hatcheries. I for one like my Sandhill chickens and will be choosing the next generation of breeders from the birds they sent as they mature. Their honesty is a refreshing change . If I may offer one bit of un-asked for advise it would be to keep your order of the breeds with (5) maximum to a minimum for those are the breeds thay have the fewest of and most demand for. In other words if you order 5 breeds with a 5 chick maximum you might have delays. Just my Opinion .

 

[colowyo0809]

I figured I would chime in here. We placed an order through Sandhill last year in march I believe (used tax money

) Got confirmation of the order in good time. They sent out the order. And, sadly, someone with the post office did something not pleasant and most of the order, including the extra's, ended up dead, and all in one corner. Considering they shipped in June they shouldn't have been that cold unless someone put them in front of the AC. But, there were several that survived the trip, and out of those several, we still have two. One of them is laying, and the other is a rooster. The roo, whom we've named Foxy, was attacked by a fox but the fox was scared off by my partner. The bird recovered quite nicely, with no help from us, and is a thriving member of our flock. In fact, I am planning on putting Foxy in a seperate pen with Breda the Black Laced Red and the three splashs (Splish, Splash, and Splosh, I know, this are cleverly original names and you wish you had thought of them first

) to see if I can propogate that hardiness. Plus, Sandhill is replacing the entire order, and sending them out this April, at no cost to me. So, I kinda like them

p.s. they had sent some of the Blue Jersey's, and they didn't survive, I was kinda disappointed when I saw that, they would have gone nicely with the Blacks we had.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I like hearing good things about Sand Hill since I have my first order due from them this spring. It will be good to add another to my "Nice" list.

 

[cubalaya]

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agreed, his cubalayas are very good and easy to 'breed up'. i still have a few older foundation cubalayas from him and would order more if i felt like i needed them. you have the same show people trying to down mr drowns and put his birds down while they are trying to sell their big puffed up non layers to an unsuspecting public.

 

[cherylcohen]

I NEED MILLE FLEUR leghorns and I can't find them anywhere, tried many old-timers and reaching a dead end.

I'm going to order the max from SH and will cull cull cull till I get what I want

ANYONE know where I can get some eggs, chicks, started, ANY AGE of the MF leghorns!!!

 

[WallTenters]

Has anyone had any Dominiques from them? We are accumulating stock from many sources before we close our flock, and we happened across an add for Sandhill and thought they might have better quality birds than what we've been hearing on here... I'm a bit nervous after seeing just how many breeds they offer, but it sounds like a few of their breeds are better than others?

 

[JHorn91180]

Ok so been reading this thread. The good and the bad but cant help but notice that no one has pics to back up anything they r saying. How about posting pics with your opinions and letting the pics speak for themselves? Then us as readers can base our own opinions from that. I would personally like to see pics of Sandhills Orpingtons and thier Jersey giants. So yeah pics r easy to take and post so lets see your wonderful or crappy chickens from Sandhill. Nine pages of blah blah blah and not a single pic. Now theres some time I'll never get back.

 

[EweSheep]

Well it was way before digitial cameras came in the pictures LOL! I wished I had save those pictures of the Sandhill Preservation birds. Many of mine were sold as juvies and I would monitor them everytime I go visit a friend's farm who bought most of my birds. I even had emails to prove how awful they were. Its been eight years ago since I had ordered them with friends. All of my two friends were NOT impressed with them.

There ARE a few Sandhill Preservation Orpingtons that are not too shabby but alot has been done to improve them. BamaChicken had some and I think she probably still has them. She had the Blue Orpingtons. They are a bit better THAN the hatchery Orpingtons.

If you talk to any of the Orpington breeders, the REAL ones that runs the club, they can tell you that you can do better than Sandhill or someone who HAD improved from the Sandhill by culling, improving, know what they are looking for. Those are the ones you want to aim for.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I've seen pictures of Sandhill's birds in ONE poultry magazine and they don't look bad but the chicks and future offsprings were not all cracked up to be. However the pictures were only of selected breeds so they may have been taking pictures of the best poultry flocks they had. Time and time again, we have asked Sandhill to submit pictures of their chickens, got nothing but delays or "we will get around to them". Been three years since we have been asking for it, maybe longer. I know they are time schedule but for goodness sakes, hire one of the nieces and nephews to do the work and he can pick out the best photographs to put on the website. I don't want examples like many hatcheries do, I want to see the Real McCoys.

So all in all, JHorn, while some of us may not have photographs to show Sandhill birds, maybe you can ask Sandhill some photos of their birds. I bet they won't comply or you would get excuses why they wont or might do.

Sandhill Preservation Mahogany Faverolle hen:

The Faverolle breeders (the real deal, Peter Merlin and Dick Boulanger) told me that they are the poor examples of Mahogany Faverolles and its a shame.