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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 didnโ€™t raise any butterflies this year. I started out collecting a few cats and a couple of eggs I found. They all turned black and died. I noticed some of the cats on the outside plants were also turning black and dying. I did have some large healthy cats on some of the plants over the past couple of weeks. I have not found any chrysalis for them, but they did not turn black and die. Iโ€™m not sure what happened this year. It seemed later than usual when I first started seeing the monarchs and I did not see hardly any swallowtails either. Last year I found and released about 15 black swallowtails with five that overwintered and were released this spring. I also raised and released several monarchs with no issues at all. Iโ€™m not sure what happened this year, but hope to try again next year.

    Tammy Ross on

  • Sadly, I have not had any eggs or cats on my healthy milkweed last year and this year and donโ€™t know whatโ€™s wrong. I didnโ€™t even have any aphids on the milkweed this year either which was good. I saw healthy Monarchs flying around my perennial gardens in September. Has this happened to anyone else? I live in Zone 5 in Northwestern CT (Harwinton) and didnโ€™t have this problem before.

    Phyllis Ryalls on

  • I have always averaged 20 releases and did again this year. I have to give significant credit to my husband who helped for 10 days while I had to be away on family business right when I had 10 mini cats in plastic containers and a few in the tower. I tried the tiny first and second instar in containers for the first time this year and found it easy to do. My property has a bazillion parasites and I have to get them ASAP.
    Thank goodness for FaceTime, I was able to talk him through the procedure with containers,washing leaves, floral tubes, spritzing the chrysalises, clean up, etc. he proved to be quite the babysitter and had only one mini cat death and one chrysalis death when it fell and split.
    One thing I did witness for the first time. I always take the leaf with the cat off together. One time I somehow hurt the cat somewhere around itโ€™s foot, green blood on my thumb, and I was so upset I almost cried. He shuddered a bit then put his mouth on the area for a few minutes, then began eating the leaf again. My heart stopped pounding and I realized he must have spit some silk around the cut. I took him in the cage, he later chrysalized and hatched perfectly. Have you ever seen this?
    I keep my tower on a table on my porch and this year we had some really hot weather. I always spritz them a few times a day along with the leaves. I feel three of them chrysalised early one time and wondered if it was due to the heat. They all lived, but seemed a hit smaller than usual. I took the cage inside after that but thought they might need the normal day/night temp changes.?
    Thanks for all the info

    CharleneVallino on

  • This is my 4th year of raising monarchs in Wilmington De. Itโ€™s sad how few monarchs I see in the city. Too much use of pesticides and not enough native plants, especially milkweed I think. Started in June looking for eggs in the country to raise and by late July and early August a few females came through and laid eggs on my milkweed. I was able to bring most of the eggs in immediately so had a pretty healthy cats. All told released 49, 21 males and 28 females. Losses: 2 cats had parasites, 1 chrysalis turned black and 1 eclosed deformed and was euthanized. 92%

    Gail Heath on

  • 3rd year raising in Rochester, MN. Released 136 this year.

    Ginger on

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