Tassie teen Fletcher McCulloch hatches a chicken business from his own backyard

When the two dozen eggs sold faster than his family could have believed, the beginnings of a plan started to hatch in young Fletcher's mind.

Cut to about two years later and the 12-year-old Turners Beach teen has been busy building his chicken empire, with just over 500 chickens, nine sheep, 23 ducks and four calves to his name.

He now runs chicken business Fletcher's Poultry, selling young laying hens to families so they can have a steady stream of eggs in their own backyards.

"I like going outside and spending heaps of time with animals," he said. "It's really fun just to come out and feed them, and give them water.

"I just enjoy seeing all the animals happy, and scratching around and pecking.

"When I bought a batch of 50 chooks just to see how it would go, that's when I realised that they would sell.

"I was really just expecting to sell a few dozen eggs... but I've worked pretty hard."

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With the assistance of his dad, his backyard has been transformed to home around 200 chickens currently, all aged under 18 weeks.

His other batch of chooks and larger animals are located on a block of land kindly loaned to him by a family friend, with payment simply the maintenance of the fences.

The young entrepreneur has also built himself a network of experts, with staff at his local Nutrien Ag Solutions always happy to lend a smile and some advice, and his chicken supplier near Mount Roland essentially on speed-dial.

Damien McCulloch, Fletcher's dad, said it had been incredible to see how his son's confidence had grown since this venture began, building up his skills in talking to new people and scouring YouTube for videos to upgrade his chicken coops and expand his knowledge.

He said one of his favourite parts, particularly now that Fletcher's business was covering all the costs for feed and maintenance itself, was seeing the reactions of staff at shops when it was his son who whipped out the card to pay for the gear.

"I used to sneak in more of my money," Mr McCulloch said, "but now he's able to pay for everything."

Including, Fletcher said, a sneaky fish and chips now and then for him and his dad - which is pretty cheap rent, if you ask Mr McCulloch.

He said it certainly sounded like a lot of chooks, but at the end of the day whether it was 300 chickens or six, the work wasn't that dissimilar. And most of the time, it's smooth sailing.

Although there was the one time the chooks got out.

"One time the door somehow got open and 200 chooks went everywhere," Fletcher said.

Spilling down the driveway and all around the backyard, it was a flurry of feathers.

"That day we were jumping over every fence and asking if they had any chickens in their backyard."

Fortunately, Mr McCulloch said, that hadn't happened since.

More information about Fletcher's chooks can be found on the business Facebook page.