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by Tony Gomez

2 years ago

Raising Book Resources

Raising Hope for the 2021 Monarch Migration- Raise The Migration Results


Share Your Raise The Migration 2021 Experience in a Comment Below

2 years ago

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By Tony Gomez

Raise the Migration 2021- Share Your Experience Raising Monarch Butterflies

by Tony Gomez

2 years ago

Raise The Migration is an annual North American challenge to raise monarch butterflies to release for fallโ€™s annual monarch migration. The time has come to share your 2021 experience and raise it forwardโ€ฆ

Raise the Migration 2021- Share Your Experience Raising Monarch Butterflies

The raising season is coming to an end, so weโ€™d love to hear how many butterflies you released for fallโ€™s annual 2021 monarch migrationโ€ฆand more importantly, what lessons youโ€™ve learned through this amazing raising experience?

If youโ€™ve still got some raising to do, raise on! But please post in the comment box at the bottom of this page after youโ€™ve released your last butterfly.

Every year, I start Raise The Migration in July, but monarchs raised at that time arenโ€™t actually migration generation butterfliesโ€ฆtheyโ€™re the parents to that amazing generation of travelers.

Thereโ€™s no way to tell whether butterflies will mate or migrate, but one telltale sign of a migration generation butterfly is its size, which is dependent on how much the caterpillar eats. The first super-sized caterpillars start to form chrysalides around the first week of September in our northern regionโ€ฆ

In the garden, you can tell non-migratory butterflies by their worn out wings. Non-migratory males are also more aggressive, chasing off potential competition while seeking out female companionshipโ€ฆmigratory monarchs are in sexual diapause and only interested in stocking up on nectar for the long journey ahead.

So how did our Raise The Migration Monarchs fare this season and what lessons did we learn raising forward?

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If youโ€™re interested in a step-by-step guide digital guide with free updates (before each monarch season begins in spring) please check out the monarch raising guide by clicking this butterfly photo:

Raising Monarch Butterflies Book

For anyone who purchases the guide (or any other item) from Monarch Butterfly Life, you will be invited to our closed facebook group where you can discuss raising monarchs with other raisers and post your photos.

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Here are Raise the Migration results from the pastย eight seasons:

2020- 82% survival rate

2019- 81% survival rate

2018- 93% survival rate

2017- 100% survival rate

2016- 96% survial rate

2015- 96% survival rate

2014- 90% survival rate

2013- 100% survival rate

As you can see from the results, this raising system is consistently producing healthy monarchs to help support the struggling monarch population.


Raise The Migration 2021 Results

I released 15 healthy monarchs (14 females and 1 male) from July 29th to August 16th with a 100% survival rate. I am fairly certain all of these butterfliesย wereย parents to the migration generation.ย 

The seven monarchs we raised after that,ย were counted as our official Raise The Migration monarchs for 2021...


Caterpillar Escapes

By keeping monarch eggs and baby caterpillars in sealed food containers, and raising larger caterpillars in the mesh cages, we never lose caterpillars.ย 

I think the closest we have come was two years ago when I forgot to close a cage door and found a caterpillar crawling on top of the cage. ๐Ÿ› ๐Ÿ˜ฑ


Unexplained Caterpillar Deaths

We didn't have any unexplained monarch deaths in 2021.


Caterpillar Diseases and Parasites?

I'm happy to report no disease issues in 2021. All of our raise the migration participants were brought in as eggs so no issues with tachinid flies...a couple eggs were parasitized by trichogramma wasps,ย and we discarded those eggs when they darkened and never hatched.ย 


Accidental Deaths?

We experienced one accidental (and completely preventable) accidental death. See the Butterfly Eclosure section below for more details...


Chrysalis Problems

No chrysalis issues to report in 2021...

Community member Jude R. recently used the microfiber method to rehang one of her fallen chrysalides:

Rehang Chrysalis on Microfiber- Raise the Migration 21 Results


Jude reports: There was zero silk and I wasn't sure what to do. Your tip worked and just in time. I was a little worried the bfly's feet would get stuck in the microfiber, but it had zero problems.
ย 
ย 

Butterfly Eclosures

We had oneย eclosure disaster this year. An early morning butterfly (emerged from chrysalis before 7am) fell from our kitchen overhang on to the floor.

Sheย lost a lot of fluids from her abdomen when this happened.ย Herย wings recovered 'somewhat' when I hung her from inside a mesh cage, but she was injured badly from the fall on to the wood floor, which is about a 7 foot drop.ย 

Starting in 2022, we will no longer rehang chrysalides on our overhang. It's much safer to rehang them inside the cageย where they can crawl up a mesh wall after falling a much shorter distance.ย 

safe way to rehang monarch chrysalis


Final Results

Our totals are from all eggs that have successfully hatched. We don't count eggs that were parasitized outside or monarchs brought in as caterpillarsย because they could have parasites too.

Sevenย monarch butterflies emerged from their chrysalides between August 29th and October 5th:ย 

1ย accidental death (butterfly fall)

0ย disease or parasite issues

0ย unexplained deaths

4ย healthy males

2ย healthy females

86% survival rate


Lessons Learned?

Chrysalides should always be kept in a cage or somewhere where the butterfly has a chance to climb to safety if it falls after it emerges. In my experience butterflies rarely fall, but it can happen.ย 


Migration Memory 2021

I came across these mating monarchs in our Minnesota garden on September 19th when it was an unseasonable 90ยฐ:

Mating Minnesota Monarchs September


Before 2021, I had never seenย mating past the first week of September in our region.ย 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my Raise The Migration '21 results and lessons learned raising monarchs through the butterfly life cycle .

And now, I'd love to hear about your experience...
ย 

Share Your Results?! โœ๏ธ

Please share your results below by letting us know how many monarchs you released to help boost the struggling monarch populationโ€ฆremember to include your location.

More importantly, please share the most valuable lesson(s) you learned about raising monarch butterflies, that you believe can help others raising forward.

Thank you for helping to Raise the Migration in 2021

338 comments


  • I was gone a lot this season so didnโ€™t really look for eggs. I live in Indiana. But I did find one โ€“ and one day there were two tiny cats! When it came time for them to metamorphose, one did not complete the stage โ€“ my monarch mentor told me to destroy it and I had my husband toss it into the fire. The other one did and I carefully took it to Witchita Falls TX to release. She emerged on the day our newest grandson was baptized into the Catholic Church. Our two year old, Nora, was fascinated since I brought my butterfly books and showed her videos. She named the butterfly โ€œChrisโ€ from our telling her it was a chrysalis! Chris was quite energetic and when we released her, she shot up into the air and flew into a tree! My monarch mentor told me I was giving her a head start to Mexico. My daughter tells me they see so many monarchs when they run!

    Last year I had late cats โ€“ I was desperately searching for milkweed. My last seven butterflies were released in November if you can believe that. I had to keep close watch on the weather and did feed them since I couldnโ€™t release them the evening of their emergence.

    Iโ€™m relatively new to this wonderful experience. It has been such a great experience!

    Pamela on

  • 46 successfully tagged and released between end of August and mid-September. Three lost to suspected O.E. in the last week of raising and releasing. This was my most successful year in about 15 years of collecting eggs and rearing. I do not have enough milkweed โ€“ our enough time โ€“ to raise hundreds as some do. My meager contribution to the migration generation was immensely satisfying, never the less. I also have roughly 15 Eastern Black Swallowtails in diapause. See you next May, my sleeping beauties! Naperville, IL (30 miles west of Chicago)

    Teresa A Rogers on

  • This year I had twice as many successful adults as last year and am already looking forward to next year. Monarchs donโ€™t reach London, Ontario until July so I had eggs,cats and chrysalis in various stages for 2 months. At one point I even counted 15-thank heavens for the butterfly cage! They really are a marvel of nature.

    Janice Grant on

  • I have released 20 healthy monarchs from July to October with one to go. 15 females and one male. Temps are still warm here in DE so it should be gone in a few days, hopefully.
    During the heat waves in July and August several only took 9 days from chrysalis to butterfly so I will keep them in a cage outside on screened-in porch from now on. Everything happened much earlier this yearโ€ฆwe never have eggs in July!

    Janice Itzel on

  • Hello! Weโ€™ve officially released our last monarch as of October 7, 2021. The amount raised was 44. 2 died from unknown causes in that the chrysalises failed to eclose. Also had about 3 caterpillars shrivel up until I realized the new butterfly/greenhouse was turning into an oven. We had extreme heat this summer in the north country. Used a spf cloth to drape over the roof and sides of butterfly/greenhouse and things went swimmingly thereafter. This cloth helped decrease the temperature inside and provided much needed shade.
    It was my 1st year using the butterfly/greenhouse. Had to have inside of house sprayed for flying ants in the spring and was worried the residual pesticides would affect the monarchs. I found myself with so much more room using the 6ร—12 butterfly/greenhouse. And found it much easier to care for them then it had been when Iโ€™d bring them inside. I was generally pleased with the numbers of successfully raised monarchs. Also found that I was simply more patient this year especially with the eggs. This year to keep as many milkweed plants in wild as possible I would wait and watch to see when egg was about to hatch and then Iโ€™d only grab the leaf. This method of collecting enabled so many more eggs from the same plant. Results were excellent with this method. And reality thereโ€™d be times I would have just missed the devouring of a 1st instar caterpillar and felt a little humbled by it because the predators need to eat too.
    When the 3rd generation monarchs began showing up it was as if theyโ€™d been here before. Weโ€™d have some fly up to the porch as if to thank us, then go about their business of drinking nectar And laying their eggs. Even had a chance to witness a male monarch suspended from the flowers of the common milkweed plant in the middle of a rainstorm. And saw so many more monarchs that eclosed in the wild here at the farm I was so proud that it seemed the habitat created is working.

    katharine Evans on

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