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
Total butterflies released for the entire season were 129. From August 28 to October 6, I released 15 male and 12 female. I had two fails. One never completely eclosed while one did completely eclose, but fell and never recovered. I was surprised to come home yesterday (Oct 13) afternoon to see a monarch flying around the yard. Perhaps a last chrysalis that was on my milkweed? Hope he makes to Mexico. Lesson learned this year. My granddaughter’s daycare provider had a cage with two new chrysalis. She thought the empty ones were ugly and started to pick them off the top not realizing the new one had attached itself to the silk of the empty one. The chrysalis fell and was damaged. Just leave those empty chrysalis shells up there until the entire cage is empty and you can clean it.
My sister and I, here in Perry County in Southern Indiana, successfully raised and released 180 Monarchs this season. We released 7 in June, 7 in July, 40 in August, 120 in September and 6 in Oct. We lost 4 cats and 3 chrysalises due to unexplained causes. Nearly all were collected as eggs. We kept groups of eggs collected at the same time and location in separate habitats to keep from potentially spreading disease, but had no problems with any of them. We didn’t do any bleaching of eggs or plant material, but made sure to collect from clean healthy plants only. Altogether, a very successful season!
Hi Tony, love your updates and messages, thanks. I had a good season, released 210 June thru Aug., all from eggs. In Sept and up to now have released 204. Unfortunately I still have 45 cocoons, actually found eggs the middle of Sept which is kinda late??? Most are turning dark but we’ve had some cool nights so it’s wait and see.
You were worried about your Monarch that fell to the floor but I have to tell you that I had a record yr of them that fell from the top of my cages, probably 10%. Most looked perfect except that they laid on the bottom of the cage and their wet wings got bent. A few recovered when I helped them back to the top but not many. All together I feel like it was a good yr but hate to see any losses!
Buffalo, NY. Had a pesticide issue in July but was back at it in August. At least a dozen released with equal boy-girl ratio.
Greetings from Redlands, CA! This was my first year raising monarchs, and what a learning experience it was. I discovered that I cannot bring any cats into the house from outdoors. In the beginning, I lost at least 6 cats and 6 chrysalis to grubs. So, I started bringing in eggs. I set up the stands and floral tubes to raise them. In the end, I had 29 butterflies with one final chrysalis hanging today. The last two eggs did not survive. To date I have had 9 females, two of which had bifurcated proboscis, and 20 males. I purchased several new plants to feed the cats and plan on growing more from seed for next year. At times, this was almost like raising children — always hungry and pooping all the time! I often found myself out in the yard with a flashlight bringing in cuttings after dark because of my work/rehearsal schedule so they wouldn’t be without food over night when they did much of their eating. The best part of this project was having neighborhood children and my granddaughter help release butterflies. Even the adults were fascinated to see the various life stages of these amazing creatures. It has brought awareness of our environment and what we must do to preserve it.
Next year, I plan to set up a smaller habitat for eggs and newly hatched cats before moving them into the larger space.