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McKenzie Hatchery 
Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife
Hatchery Process
At McKenzie Hatchery, our goal is to supplement the run of spring Chinook salmon by rearing and releasing nearly 1.2 million smolts each year into the McKenzie River.
To meet this goal, returning adult salmon are collected at the hatchery from May through September of each year. The fish enter the fish ladder and swim into the adult collection facility. The fish enter the hatchery of there own volition. There is no barrier blocking the passage of these fish in the river. Those fish bypassing the hatchery continue upstream to spawn naturally in the upper McKenzie watershed.
Adults that enter the hatchery spawn in September. They must be kept healthy until that time. Early returning fish are injected with antibiotics to protect them against various bacterial disease that occur naturally in salmon. Typically, spawning begins the second week of September when the first salmon become ripe. By "ripe" we mean that the eggs have reached maturity and are loose inside the female's body cavity and are ready to be removed and fertilized. The males are determined to be ripe by the availability of "milt" to fertilize the eggs. Each fish is examined and those fish not yet ready are returned to the holding pond where they will remain until they are reexamined the following week.
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FEMALE SPRING CHINOOK SALMON |
FEMALE IS "RIPE" AND READY TO SPAWN |
The eggs are removed from the females by making an incision up the length of their body cavity, which allows the eggs to fall freely into a bucket. The eggs are then fertilized by adding "milt" from a male salmon and gently mixing them together.
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EGGS ARE REMOVED FROM "RIPE" FEMALE |
EGGS ARE FERTILIZED WITH "MILT" FROM MALE FISH |
> At this point the fertilized eggs are placed into incubators, where they will begin to develop. Approximately 24 hours after the eggs are fertilized they become "tender" and are very susceptible to movement or direct sunlight. The "tender" stage continues until they have developed to the point that a "strong eye" is visible inside the egg.
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STACKS OF INCUBATORS FULL OF SALMON EGGS |
FERTILIZED EGGS ARE PLACED IN INCUBATOR TRAY |
At the "strong eye" stage any dead eggs are removed from the incubators. The remaining live eggs are left for hatching. After hatching the small fish, or "fry", are not fully developed and will continue to develop in the incubators until they are ready to begin actively feeding.