Watch: Farmer turns backyard poultry project into growing business (2025)

What began as a hobby for some pocket money has quickly grown to a full scale business for the 20-year-old owner of Freeway Poultry James Stokes.

Stokes grew up on a dairy farmon the Limerick/Tipperary border, where he always kept a few hens as a child to sell eggs to family and friends.

After buying 100 day-old chicks to ensure quality eggs, Stokes sold 50 at Kilmallock Mart and realised the demand for birds. He continued buying and selling birds, before setting up his own business at age 13.

Stokes first began selling poultry at markets, stumbling across some issues with suppliers and a competitive market, before coming up with the idea to advertise and sell online – becoming Ireland’s first online retailer of live poultry.

He began organising pick-up points for birds in various locations nationwide, with orders made prior to collection.

Whilst running a quickly developing business, Stokes was still in his teenage years and not allowed to drive yet, so relied on his family, neighbours and friends for help with deliveries.

Stokes said that he cannot keep up with the demandfor birds now, and that the business is “growing a lot faster” than he ever thought it would.

The family business customer base now includes anyone from families starting first backyard flocks to small hobby farmers, supplying about 40,000 birds to the public every year.

The farm has since grown to include over 6,000 birds at a time of 16 different breeds of hens, producing free range, Class A eggs. Freeway Poultry now specialises in point of lay pullets, broilers, ducks, geese, and turkeys.

The main focus is on “quality”, according to Stokes, and the business carries the slogan “quality is never an accident”.

He also came up with the idea to also begin a “one-stop-shop” for poultry-keeping equipment a few years ago, after many people buying birds were also enquring about where to purchase feeders and drinkers.

Freeway Poultry

While many of his peers are studying in college or just getting started in the workforce, Stokes is now looking ahead to what is next for the business.

“If you asked me five years ago if I was going to go selling hens and eggs full time after school, I wouldn’t have said so. Even two years ago we had no intention of producing eggs large scale.

“We had a small flock of 500, now we have over 6,000 free range hens and we’re hoping to double that over the next two or three years. We just can’t keep up with the demand,” Stokes said.

Stokes receives much help from family members and girlfriend, Kate who help him most days. He said his two younger brothers, Nicholas and Edward spend time helping out before and after school.

However, with such high demand, he added that the business is always looking for new staff members and new customers as it continues to develop.