Sandhill Preservation Center - Breeds

[SFIcelandics]

Has anyone ordered Russian Orloffs from SPC? I was thinking about ordering some from them, but not sure of the quality. I have heard that some of their stock is really nice, but them others say that some of their stock is horrible, and no better than a hatcheries.

Thanks for any input!!!

Nate

 

[EweSheep]

I can not vouch for the Sandhill's Orloffs but Tailfeathers got a friend that has some!

With all the other breeds I've gotten from Sandhill three years ago, I would not buy "hatchery quality" from them. They have lost their touch in keeping the breed within the standard. They do not do heavy culling like we do. One thing I notice is that they are trying to get up to 25 chicks per breed in near future so that tells me they are running it like a hatchery.

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Quote:
What breeds did you get from them that were disappointing?

 

[SFIcelandics]

Longcrowers, polish, the light sussex from them are not too bad, but I still bought some from greenfire so I had nice nice ones.

The other lady that pooled her order with me, said that hers are all not very good. She ordered blues, and all they sent were splashs and they werenot of good quality. Someone else wanted dokrings from there, but I dont want to order anymore from them if everything that they carry is not very good, its just an over priced hatchery, if stock is not at least decent. I heard the langshans are also no good.

Nate

 

[deannd]

Bummer the more I read about Sandhill the less I am inclined to buy. I don't mind buying straight run if I am getting good quality healthy chicks, but from what I am ready the quality is not good and and is not getting better, and in other forums people have been receiving weak, dead or dying chicks. Once again - I am bummed, I was hoping the feed back would be that they had nice quality healthy chicks. Back to the search engine

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

I bought some Orloffs from them last year (well, in January of 2009) and didn't get them them May of 2010.

Don't waste your money. They were pet-quality at best...most of them had the wrong leg color...some were clean-faced. All had too much white. I sold all but one of them (a pullet).

I ended up buying a trio from Erhard...they are MUCH nicer quality than the Sandhill but still have quite a bit of work to do on them.

I'm just now getting some eggs from them (it takes about 7 months for them to start to lay).

I also have Orloffs in bantam...again, a lot of work needs to be done (I have one beardless) but I kept her anyway because they're too rare not to....at least for a generation or two.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

We had a very good experience with them. We ordered one of their assortments. I have ordered from Murray McMurray and from Metzer (guineas and ducks) in the past and Sandhill definitely sent birds that were closer to the standard than either of them. You're not going to get SQ lacing and you're going to get a mix of BBS with your order. (Which he is very honest about - when they say they sell straight run, they sell straight run. That means you get BBS when you order blue.) But he does understand standards and his Mediterranean birds are Mediterranean and his Jersey Giants are twice the size of the others and the RIRs are very dark mahogany so on. The chicks I got were strong and healthy and he sent tons of extras and apple slices in the box; I lost one to injury but the rest are doing great.

If you read through his website, and you talk to him (which is very possible; I talked to them several times in the course of just my silly little assortment order), he's not interested in certain aspects of SQ. He's a breed preservationist, which means he cares deeply about finding the old breeds and keeping them alive and healthy and functional. It's exactly right that he doesn't cull heavily; he's trying to keep as much genetic material around as possible. He will not tell you that he's sending you SQ birds if he's not. He tends to select for good laying, vigor, and growth. If you agree with the way he thinks about chickens, you'll be very happy with what you get. If you're either looking for cheap hatchery chicks that have the right breed name but end up all looking like the same bird in different colors (and it's obvious that the hatchery neither knows nor cares) or you're looking for SQ feathering or color, you won't.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I haven't ordered any of the fancy breeds from Sandhill, but the Delawares and Black Jersey Giants I got from them I was happy with. The turkeys as well.

 

[SFIcelandics]

Polish were not of the best quality - crooked beaks/toes... The light sussex I ordered 10. They sent them in 2 batches. first batch was 6 - only 3 turned out to be LS, others mottled and barred - the 2nd batch was 6 again, and only ended up with 4 LS, 1 turned out to be this buff color, and the other almost red - All the chicks looked the same at the begining, but grew out way different. Which really sucks that you get crosses when you order Purebreds. I will post some pics of what the "light sussex" grew up to be this evening.

Nate

 

[cubalaya]

glenn drowns has some good birds and they were pleasant to order from. if i needed some , i would order from them again.