Milford Fish Hatchery
Kansas Dept. of Wildlife & Parks

The Milford Fish Hatchery is a state-of-the-art facility and one of only five warm water "intensive-culture" fish hatcheries in the country. In Kansas, the hatchery is one of four state facilities. It rears sport fish for the more than 600,000 Kansas anglers. The older facilities at Pratt, Meade, and Farlington employ an "extensive" system of fish culture in which earthen ponds are used for hatching and rearing fry. The Milford Fish Hatchery ‘s primary focus is an "intensive" system in which eggs are hatched in small containers and fish are grown in concrete raceways. The advantages of this type of culture are that more fish can be raised in less water and the health of the fish can be monitored daily.

In 1995 six, 1 acre, plastic lined ponds were added to the Milford Fish Hatchery. By using both systems the hatchery can be more effective. The earthen ponds are used to raise predacious fish such as walleye and largemouth bass. Ponds can create a different environment from concrete raceways. In ponds, "blooms" of zooplankton (small microscopic animals) can be produced providing the fish with their natural food. In raceways the fish are fed food pellets.

Construction of the hatchery was completed in January 1985, at a total cost of $4.5 million. A $3.00 hatchery fee that was added to the cost of a regular fishing license provided the majority of the funding.

RACEWAYS

Each of the 24 concrete raceways holds approximately 18,000 gallons of water and measures 100 feet long, eight feet wide and four feet deep. Depending on the size of fish, a raceway can hold between 35,000 and 150,000 fish. The water source for the hatchery is a combination of well and lake water. During the winter months, water is taken from wells that have a combined pumping capacity of 2,500 gallons per minute at a constant temperature of 58 degrees F. When the water temperature has stabilized at or above 60 degrees F, water is taken from the outlet lake south of the hatchery. The large brown hoppers, called demand feeders, contain specially formulated fish food. The fish learn to hit the rod, which releases the food. Each feeder holds 60 lbs. of food and during summer months the feeders are filled daily. Raceways are cleaned daily in the summer and every other day in the winter. Each raceway has its own re-circulation system in which about two-thirds of the water is recycled. The water in a raceway is completely exchanged every hour. Water enters the raceway at a rate of 200 – 1000 gallons per minute. The partitions you may see in the raceways do not extend to the bottom and the fish can freely travel up and down the length of the raceway. These baffles help to create a higher water velocity near the bottom to sweep it clean of debris.

AERATION TOWERS

All incoming water is aerated by one of two aeration towers. These are painted red and are seen at the south side of the raceways. Each tower has a series of expanded aluminum baffles that the water cascades over. This allows for oxygen to be added before the water is delivered to the raceways.

FEED ELEVATOR

Located east of the raceway area is the feed elevator, which can hold 40 tons of fish food.

HATCHERY BUILDING

The large hatchery building holds fish incubation and start tank equipment, electrical monitoring and control equipment, water filtering equipment, a lab, offices, and a shop area. The mechanical room houses three large sand filters that clean the water used inside for hatching and growing fry. These filters automatically backwash when the material begins plugging up the filter. The incubation room consists of four hatching racks, a spawn area, and 16 large catch tanks. Hatching of walleye eggs normally begins in late March and finishes by early May. Eggs are stripped from the females and fertilized in a pan with milt (sperm) taken from the male. The fertilized eggs are then placed in a special plexiglass hatching jar. Water is constantly circulating through the jar to provide oxygen to the eggs. In approximately 10 days, the eggs hatch and the fry swim to the top and are carried into catch tanks. When the fry are three to four days old, they are stocked in lakes and reservoirs. Each McDonald hatching jar can hold approximately 300,000 eggs. The maximum capacity for the incubation room is 200 million eggs. Fish received at the hatchery as fry or fingerlings must be trained to eat pellet food. When the fish first arrive they are placed in the start tanks. Automatic feeders are used to introduce feed every 10 – 20 minutes round the clock. When the fish are about three inches long and have accepted the formulated feed, they are transferred to the raceways.

FISH RAISED AT MILFORD LAKE

Milford produces between 55 – 65 million fish each year. These include walleye fry, sauger and saugeye fry, wiper fry, channel catfish intermediates (12 inches), channel catfish fingerlings, and largemouth bass intermediates (6 – 8 inches).

Walleye – occur mainly in large lakes. It was found in Kansas as early as 1865 but soon disappeared. It was successfully reintroduced about 1960. Milford produces about 55 – 65 million walleye fry a year.

Largemouth bass – most sought-after game fish and the main predator required for balancing fish populations.  The Kansas state record largemouth bass weighed 11 pounds and 12 ounces!  Milford produces 40,000 or more largemouth bass intermediates (6 – 8") each year.

Channel Catfish – inhabit all large streams in Kansas, as well as most lakes and ponds. They do very well in turbid lakes and ponds, and are one of the most popular fish in Kansas. Milford produces about 1,000,000 channel catfish of all sizes each year.

QUESTIONS COMMONLY ASKED

Why is the water murky? – The murky water conditions in the raceways are caused by nutrient-rich water from the supply lake, further enriched by fish wastes in the raceways. Lakes and ponds in Kansas tend to be very high in nutrients since these bodies of water receive most of their inflow as run-off from rich agricultural lands. The high level of nutrients in the water is not harmful to the fish. This condition, however, combined with the natural tendency of the fish to stay at the bottom makes it very difficult to view the fish. Look for fish at the south end of the raceways where the feeders are located and the incoming water is fresh.

Why do I sometimes see dead fish in the raceways? – All hatcheries experience some fish mortality. Dead fish are more apparent at Milford because they’re visible in the raceways until removed. In pond culture, they die and sink to the bottom or are consumed by birds or animals.

Where do the fish go from here? – Fish raised at Milford stay in Kansas and are used to stock reservoirs, state fishing lakes, and community lakes. Sometimes fish may be "traded" with other states to accommodate a demand for a species, which is not produced here. Species we annually obtain from other states include striped bass, wipers, and trout.

For tours of the hatchery – contact the Milford Nature Center.