Raising Book Resources
Raising Hope for the 2021 Monarch Migration- Raise The Migration Results
Raise The Migration is an annual North American challenge to raise monarch butterflies to release for fall’s annual monarch migration. The time has come to share your 2021 experience and raise it forward…
The raising season is coming to an end, so we’d love to hear how many butterflies you released for fall’s annual 2021 monarch migration…and more importantly, what lessons you’ve learned through this amazing raising experience?
If you’ve still got some raising to do, raise on! But please post in the comment box at the bottom of this page after you’ve released your last butterfly.
Every year, I start Raise The Migration in July, but monarchs raised at that time aren’t actually migration generation butterflies…they’re the parents to that amazing generation of travelers.
There’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 region…
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 companionship…migratory 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 you’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:
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 past 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 butterflies were parents to the migration generation.
The seven monarchs we raised after that, 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.
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. 🐛 😱
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, and we discarded those eggs when they darkened and never hatched.
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:
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.
Butterfly Eclosures
We had one eclosure disaster this year. An early morning butterfly (emerged from chrysalis before 7am) fell from our kitchen overhang on to the floor.
She lost a lot of fluids from her abdomen when this happened. Her 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.
Starting in 2022, we will no longer rehang chrysalides on our overhang. It's much safer to rehang them inside the cage where they can crawl up a mesh wall after falling a much shorter distance.
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 caterpillars because they could have parasites too.
Seven monarch butterflies emerged from their chrysalides between August 29th and October 5th:
1 accidental death (butterfly fall)
0 disease or parasite issues
0 unexplained deaths
4 healthy males
2 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.
Migration Memory 2021
I came across these mating monarchs in our Minnesota garden on September 19th when it was an unseasonable 90°:
Before 2021, I had never seen mating past the first week of September in our region.
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...
Share Your Results?! ✍️
Please share your results below by letting us know how many monarchs you released to help boost the struggling monarch population…remember 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
It was a bad year for me. I have been doing this for 12 years now and this was a sad year. Released 12 females and 11 males. Last year I released 68, but tachinid deaths were very high with 26 tachinid deaths. Unfortunately this year I was plagued with 21 Tachinid larvae deaths, 5 OE deaths, 5 Black Deaths and 4 anal deaths. It was an extremely wet season and for whatever reason, the flies were horrific in Northeast PA and although I tried my best to get eggs or small cats before the tachinid flies did, I was not very successful! I never saw so many larvae fall on the bottom of all my cages as this year. I released my last one yesterday, 9/21/2021
In my above comment, I neglected to say that I live in Waterloo, Iowa. Ruth Anne Schneck :-)
Between June 14 and Sept. 21, I had 93 chrysalis and released 92 healthy Monarchs. 48 female and 44 male. There was one that died due to an accident. I used masking tape when moving the chrysalis and accidentally touched a tip of the tape to the chrysalis, damaging the chrysalis. So if you do this be very careful not to touch the hanging chrysalis with the tape. The chrysalis remained and changed color, but did not hatch. I have a very good stand of milkweed including a few varieties. That really helps in supplying food. Be sure to look carefully when collecting for eggs, small cats and other things on the leaves. I wash the cuttings well before placing them into the cages. Using empty glass water bottles have kept cuttings fairly fresh and available to the cats. I have a sun porch to keep all the supplies for cleaning, keeping records and the cages. They are shaded from direct sun and have a ceiling fan for good air circulation. I have loved this hobby for many years including tagging in the 70’s. Hope to return to tagging next year.
Didn’t have as many monarchs this year as previously. This my 4th year in raising Monarch butterflies. I’ve learned to plan ahead and make sure I have enough milkweed so I plant tropical milkweed in the spring in flower pots. And I keep the plants under a screened tent so no eggs would be laid on them about 60-70 plants. This year I had 51 monarchs successfully enclosed 100%. But I did have around maybe six to die from a virus. I had 30 males and 21 females and the last date to let go was on Sept. 7th, 2021.
I live in Champaign, IL and released my last monarch, number 82 on 9-20-21. Haven’t found any eggs or caterpillars on my milkweed for the last 2-3 weeks. Most were raised from eggs but I also collected a few caterpillars up to the 4th instar. Didn’t have any problems with parasitic flies or wasps this year. My milkweed (mostly common) stayed exceptionally healthy this year and it still looks good. I had a lower egg hatch-rate this year. About 40% of eggs never hatched but didn’t show any abnormalities, they just stayed white. I had a few losses of caterpillars. Over 2 days 6 out of a batch of 24 suddenly died, some were 5th instars. They were hanging like a v-shape but didn’t show the black goo associated with NPV. At that time it was very humid and there was a lot of moisture in the cage. I cleaned the cage and containers, put fresh milkweed in and the problem stopped as suddenly as it began. The remaining 18 caterpillars eclosed into healthy butterflies. Survival rate of caterpillars was 85%.