hatchery

American  

[hach-uh-ree] / ˈhætʃ ə ri /

noun

• hatcheries
  plural

1. a place for hatching eggs of hens, fish, etc., especially a large, commercial or government site where the young are hatched, cared for, and sold or distributed.

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hatchery British  

/ ˈhætʃərɪ /

noun

1. a place where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subhatchery
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hatcheries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of hatchery

First recorded in 1875–80; hatch ¹ + -ery

Explanation

A hatchery is a place where fish or bird eggs are hatched. Do you want to raise chickens so you can have fresh eggs every day? You'll probably buy your birds as babies from a hatchery. Small poultry hatcheries produce chicks that are usually sold to backyard farmers. Larger poultry hatcheries are more like factories, supplying chickens for meat or eggs to enormous corporations. Fish hatcheries are an important part of fish farming, providing a safe place for eggs to hatch and fish to grow large enough to be used for food.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hatchery hatcheries

The Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District even has its own fish hatchery, where it rears the aptly named Western mosquitofish.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

The pond dried up in the 1970s after two wells were drilled as part of an expansion of the nearby fish hatchery at Fish Springs, and as pumping lowered the water table, Williams said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 18, 2025

"Interestingly, when we deploy them into containers in the sea, they often shift to a darker, more natural blue. But when they return to the hatchery, they become lighter again."

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2025

“It doesn’t matter how many fish you have, or if you’re growing them in a hatchery, or what you’re doing,” he said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2025

He said he could get my father a job at the hatchery.

From "Kira-Kira" by Cynthia Kadohata

The bass have consumed so many fingerlings that state officials have resorted to the ridiculous extreme of transporting baby salmon in tanker trucks, from upstream hatcheries to downstream locations closer to the San Francisco Bay.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

As detailed by National Geographic, it is a common practice in salmon hatcheries to harvest salmon sperm, which requires a scientist to squeeze a salmon in the right spot — also known as abdominal massaging.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2024

But the population has surged in recent years, thanks to a curbing of harvests, habitat restoration and use of hatcheries to bolster populations.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 6, 2024

Many are now raised in government-run hatcheries before being released back into their native waters to later return to those same hatcheries.

From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2024

He ended up getting a job at one of the few hatcheries in the state that wasn’t owned by Mr. Lyndon.

From "Kira-Kira" by Cynthia Kadohata