You run a hatchery — fish, poultry, or other animal — managing the spawning or egg-production, incubation, rearing, and the operational and biological work behind hatchery operations.
The year runs on the species-specific reproductive and rearing calendar and the daily husbandry work that hatcheries require — managing breeders or egg sources, supporting incubation under tight environmental control, rearing newly-hatched animals through size or age classes, monitoring water quality (fish) or environmental conditions (poultry), processing for stocking, harvest, or sale. Survival rates, growth-class progression, and biological-system integrity shape the visible measures.
What gets demanding is the consequence-of-failure dimension — hatcheries depend on continuous environmental control, and equipment failure, disease outbreak, or biosecurity breach can decimate operations rapidly. Variance across employers is wide: commercial poultry hatcheries (Tyson, Pilgrim's) operate at industrial scale; fish hatcheries (state-and-federal stocking or commercial aquaculture) run on different cycles; specialty hatcheries (waterfowl, reptiles) run with their own patterns.
The role tends to fit folks who carry biology-and-husbandry training, comfort with on-call response to biological systems, and the steady-stewardship orientation that hatchery work requires. Sector-specific credentials (Animal Science, Fisheries) and growing hatchery experience anchor advancement. The trade-off is the always-on nature of biological stewardship and the cumulative responsibility of working with living animals.
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Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Don't do Truest if you aren't ready
to invest in yourself and your career.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Agriculture roles →You run a hatchery — fish, poultry, or other animal — managing the spawning or egg-production, incubation, rearing, and the operational and biological work behind hatchery operations.
Median pay for a Hatchery Manager is about $74K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $40K to $157K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, and Coordination.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 0.6% through 2034, with roughly 35,440 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Greenhouse Project Manager, Farm Manager, and Poultry Hatchery Manager.
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