A John Deere Publication

Chicken farming family each holding a chicken standing in front of a corrugated white metal wall

Woodbury Hatchery started as a small side project that grew to a full-fledged business and more potential farm futures for Todd and Rebecca (center) and their children Jack (18), Julia (14), Henry (12) and Herbert (5).

Agriculture, Livestock/Poultry March 01, 2025

Hatching a Shell Company

4-H chicken project turns into full-fledged farm family hatching business.

by Martha Mintz

They were just going to hatch a few 4-H show chickens as a family. Fate had other ideas for Todd and Rebecca Woodbury and their kids.

Instead, the Wyndmere, North Dakota, corn and soybean farmers ended up launching Woodbury Hatchery. They hatched more than 100,000 eggs in 2024 and the business continues to grow.

Back when 4-H chickens were the end goal, the first step was clearing out the farm's old granary. The building's bins were perfect for housing several breeds.

"Clearing the bins was a lot of work just to breed and hatch a few chickens. One night at dinner I suggested maybe the kids could hatch some extra chicks to sell," Todd says. Little did he know...

Woodbury always had a passion for birds. He hatched chicks for friends and family as a child and figured his kids would have some fun and earn a little money.

His oldest son Jack created a Facebook page to gauge interest in chicks hatched the following spring—the spring of 2020.

They hatched more than a few chickens. As one can imagine, when the pandemic hit the feathers flew with the family's hatching side project.

Big hatcheries quickly sold out as the locked-in nation entered a homesteading revival. Everyone was baking bread, gardening, and wanting flocks for meat and eggs.

Above. The 20 layer breeds don't require as strict of diet and are productive for longer. Broiler breeders are a challenge to source and maintain, but there is a ready market for male and female chicks and orders are larger.

"We planned on hatching a couple hundred eggs for locals. Instead, we ended up hatching 300 eggs per week," Woodbury says.

Woodbury, Rebecca, and their children—Jack (14), Julia (10), Henry (8) and Herbert (1) at the time—rose to the challenge. They answered calls, sorted eggs, and shipped chicks.

Hatching as a business was quite different than hatching for fun as Woodbury had during his childhood. At 7, he convinced his parents to let him have a small flock. He bought an incubator and hatched eggs for friends and family until he left for college.

As a hobby, Woodbury's hatch rate was 60% to 85%. More consistency was needed when taking orders eight weeks out.

"There was a steep learning curve. Sometimes the kids sold more chicks than hatched, but fortunately customers were very understanding," he says.

They initially had planned to just use the 300-egg incubator Woodbury bought as a kid. Eggs take three weeks to hatch, though, so demand quickly necessitated the purchase of several more small incubators. The family worked together to meet demand.

The phone kept ringing long past the lockdown, so they kept hatching and growing. In subsequent years they picked up larger-scale machines to rock and incubate eggs. Woodbury and Rebecca officially took over the business from the kids so they could focus on school and sports. They hire help on hatch days.

In 2024, Woodbury Hatchery offered 20 breeds of chickens, hybrid Pekin ducks, and two breeds of turkeys.

"A unique thing we do is produce our own broiler hatching eggs," Woodbury says. Broiler orders are for 100 or more chicks, as compared to 20-chick layer orders. He can also more easily market both male and female broiler chicks.

It's difficult to source and manage broiler hens. Woodbury had to navigate suppliers with 5,000-bird order minimums.

"The management of a broiler breeder is very intense," he says. They're bred to be ready to butcher at 5.5-8 weeks. A strict diet is required to get fertile hatching eggs and keep the birds productive.

Business growth also needed managing. Notebooks and pens were replaced by a professionally designed hatchery website complete with a built-in inventory management system.

Working closely with a small regional delivery service allowed them to quickly distribute chicks to a wider region. Spee Dee Delivery adapted their route to accommodate timely hatch day pickup.

Woodbury enjoys the challenges and the connections they bring.

"We've met a lot of great people that are as interested in chickens and incubation as I am," he says.

The Woodburys see the hatchery as a way to make room for more of their children to stay in agriculture without having to find more acres to farm. ‡