Folks from near and far flock to home of ‘Chicken Man’ for prized poultry

By Stephanie Santostasi

Click here for updates on this story

    HENDERSON COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — Along a black paved road in one Henderson County neighborhood sits a home with im-‘peck’-able character.

From the front, it might not look like much, but when people take a step in the back yard – they’ll see, or hear, what’s happening.

It’s a poultry farm run by Ayman Kaddouri, although most people know him by another name.

“Chicken Man. The Chicken Man,” laughed Kaddouri.

It is a title he wears proud.

“We’ve gone places and run into people, and they say, ‘I know you from somewhere!’” he said. “We’ll get through scouts, or church, or this or that and then I’ve had people say, ‘That’s the chicken man!’ My wife’s like, ‘what?'”

As the Chicken Man, Kaddouri spends a lot of time tending to his chicks. He raises them, keeps them well-hydrated and fed, and then sells them to people once they’re eight weeks old.

“To me, it’s therapy,” Kaddouri said. “They’ve got such personalities.”

He keeps a variety of breeds in the coops out back. Some of them are so unique people don’t just “cross the road” to get here.

“I get people that come three to four hours away to get birds from me because I’ve got such a large selection,” said Kaddouri.

And he takes pride in that. He calls this his passion and feels grateful to be able to do it – especially since more than three years ago it almost all came to a screeching halt.

Kaddouri’s entire house caught fire. He lost everything, including nearly 500 chickens, but his wife, kids, dogs and cat all made it out safe.

“It was a tough fall, but we’re very lucky everyone got out,” he added.

Kaddouri said even after that, not once did he ever think about quitting his day job.

“I continued because it was just part of my – it’s kind of like having a dog,” he said. “You just, if you’re a dog person. You’re a dog person. I mean, I love chickens. I’ll probably have chickens as long as I can do it.”

It’s been 14 years since the former real estate mortgage broker started wingin’ it, and he has no plans of stopping anytime soon.

“I had no intention of doing this as business,” Kaddouri said. “I was doing this as a hobby on the side, just doing the coops, building the coops, and kind of piddling back and forth. Anybody can do what I’m doing. If it’s a passion, you want to do, do it.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.