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In early 2019, Hatching Time's first shipment of poultry equipment arrived in Delaware. There were 22 pallets to unload, no warehouse to receive them, and an entire family home about to become a makeshift distribution center.
Seven years later, that beginning became the subject of an Amazon Selling Partners feature.
Published on March 13, 2026, Hatching a Dream: How a Young Entrepreneur Built a $10 Million Global Poultry Equipment Brand looks back at Hatching Time's early years, the people behind the business, and the role Amazon later played in helping the company reach more poultry keepers.
It also touches on something our team has learned repeatedly over the years. Poultry equipment can come with a lot of questions, particularly for someone buying an incubator, brooder, cage system, or other specialized equipment for the first time. Clear information matters almost as much as the product itself.
A Family Home, 22 Pallets, and an Ambitious Idea
Hatching Time began in 2018 when Ryan Flanagan and Yağız Aksu joined forces to bring innovative poultry equipment to the American market.
Yağız saw an opportunity to introduce equipment already available overseas to U.S. poultry keepers. Ryan, a recent college graduate looking to build a sustainable business, recognized the potential. Together, they began building what would become Hatching Time.
The first container arrived in early 2019, carrying quail cages, chick brooders, and other poultry equipment.
The Flanagan family's house had to do the job of a warehouse. Quail cages, brooders, and boxes of equipment filled the garage and basement, then spread into the kitchen and Ryan's bedroom. Sue and Neil Flanagan were involved in the daily work, too, getting orders shipped and helping customers with their questions.
Fortunately, they didn't have to live among the inventory for long. The entire first shipment sold out within weeks.
By the end of 2020, Hatching Time had crossed $1 million in revenue. Interest in backyard poultry keeping was growing, and the business was finding its place among people who wanted to raise their own birds and produce more of their food at home.
How Amazon Became Part of Hatching Time's Growth
Amazon came into the picture in mid-2022, a few years after those first orders went out from the family home.
Within a year of joining the marketplace, Hatching Time had sold more than $1 million worth of products through Amazon. When Amazon published its feature in March 2026, the marketplace was responsible for over a quarter of the company's total revenue.
Getting products in front of more people was one part of the equation. Helping those people understand the equipment was another.
Consider someone buying their first egg incubator. They might know how many eggs they want to hatch, but what about automatic turning, humidity control, or the difference between a setter and a hatcher? A photograph and a few specifications can leave plenty of questions unanswered.
Ryan addressed this in his interview with Amazon:
"Our equipment requires education. It's a premium product, and visuals make a huge difference in helping customers understand what they're buying."
That thinking shaped Hatching Time's approach to its Amazon listings. Instead of relying on short product descriptions, the team used Amazon's A+ Content features to include videos, diagrams, and comparison charts. Customers could see how different equipment worked and get a better sense of which setup suited them.
Amazon also gave Hatching Time a way to get in front of customers who were already searching for this kind of equipment. The company used Amazon Ads for visibility and joined Amazon Vine, where reviewers could try selected products and share their experience.
Then came a much less glamorous question: how do you actually ship all of this?
Hatching Time sells everything from smaller accessories to equipment that can't simply be dropped into a standard parcel box. So there was never going to be one shipping method that made sense for the entire catalog.
Some products are stored and shipped by Amazon through FBA. Bigger items stay under Hatching Time's control and are fulfilled directly through FBM, especially when an order needs freight shipping.
That split may sound like a small operational detail, but it matters when your catalog keeps growing. What works for a small poultry accessory won't necessarily work for a large incubator or brooder system.
From a Family Home to a 30,000-Square-Foot Facility
A lot has changed since those first pallets were squeezed into the Flanagan family home.
By the time Amazon told Hatching Time's story in March 2026, the company was generating more than $10 million in annual revenue. Its catalog had grown to nearly 1,000 SKUs, and the team had expanded to more than two dozen people.
The business now operates from a 30,000-square-foot facility in New Castle, Delaware.
And it isn't only a warehouse.
There are offices, retail space, and a showroom where customers can actually see the equipment before deciding what fits their setup.
That matters with poultry equipment. Dimensions on a screen can tell you how large an incubator is, but standing in front of one gives you a much better sense of the space it takes up, how the doors open, how the trays are arranged, and whether it makes sense for the number of birds or eggs you're working with.
The showroom also gives customers a chance to ask questions while they compare options. For a business that started by answering those same kinds of questions from a family home, that feels like a pretty fitting place to have ended up.
The product range has changed considerably along the way. Hatching Time now carries equipment for incubation, brooding, housing, feeding, watering, and poultry processing, serving customers with everything from small backyard flocks to much larger operations.
By March 2026, the company was serving customers across North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom. Amazon's feature also noted plans for further international expansion.
Growth hasn't been limited to products and markets. Hatching Time has also supported universities, classrooms, agricultural programs, and 4-H organizations through equipment donations and educational involvement.
Those connections make sense for a company built around people learning as they go. Someone preparing for a first hatch has very different questions from an experienced breeder running several incubators at once, but both need equipment they understand and information they can actually use.
Read the Full Hatching Time Story on Amazon
Amazon's feature takes a closer look at Hatching Time's beginnings, Ryan's experience building the company, and the decisions that helped the business grow on the marketplace.
We're grateful to the Amazon Selling Partners team for sharing the story and to the customers, partners, and team members who have been part of Hatching Time's growth since those first pallets arrived.
Read the full Hatching Time feature on Amazon Selling Partners.
You can also visit our In the News page for more company coverage, or read about Hatching Time's fourth consecutive Inc. 5000 recognition.
