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?
===========================================================================================
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.
===========================================================================================
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
I live In Ontario Canada, close to southern Georgian Bay. I found this year the Monarchs arrived about a week early, in late May. My first Monarch emerged on June 30. In June and July there was an abundance of caterpillars everywhere. I raised 240 in June and July. Unfortunately we also had a Gypsy Moth infestation and the third week in July the moth caterpillars suddenly died by the thousands. They were hanging off the trees. I read it was due to a bacteria released by the soil because of the weather conditions. I think this bacteria also killed the Monarch caterpillars because they were gone as well. I only found a few caterpillars after that. I raised them and let the last on go yesterday. The month of August I had a total of eleven. I had about a 95% success rate for the entire season but I am deeply concerned that I had so few in August. The Monarchs in our location start to migrate in late August so despite the wonderful sounding numbers I am sad that I really only had nine that will migrate.
This is about my 4th or 5th year raising Monarchs. I have many enclosures. This year I gave about 150 or more caterpillars away. I raise about 500 or more from April- October and to be honest I cut my milkweed but I even have butterflies through fall. I live in Southern California and this has been so enjoyable for me but very expensive. After the 1st gen butterflies eclose most not in my enclosures don’t make it it due to the dreaded tachnid fly. All my neighbors get to enjoy the monarchs as they make their way through the neighborhood.
I have released 30 healthy Monarchs in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and some at my lake near Gimli, Manitoba, Canada. I lost two butterflies when they failed to completely exit the chrysalis. I lost a chrysalis due to mechanical injury by accident. Lost a couple of 1 st I started due to my inexperience ( first year). Lost 2 2nd I started due to pesticides. I released more females than males. My last few Monarchs were larger than any previous. I had a monarch with one wavy wing but she was able to fly well.I can’t wait TIL next year. I harvested eggs mostly but did bring in various stages of cats
I raise about 500 from April – October. It’s getting too expensive and I’m hoping to grow more milkweed next year.
Wow, it was certainly a different experience this year from last in mid-Michigan! We had released 95 butterflies by the beginning of September 2020. This year we sighted more swallowtails in June and early July than we did monarchs. And it was despite having loads of milkweed and planting our Mexican sunflowers late due to planning for our mom’s open-air celebration of life after the 4th. We raised our 3rd instar + cats in our mini greenhouse and let them eclose and fly away on their own because of the time constraints. The count as of 8/25/21 is 6 released (2 male, 4 female), 6 chrysalides, with 8 in various instars. We’re not seeing any eggs or cats at this time, even though male and female monarchs are flying through the yard…. We did plant balloon milkweed from Joyful Butterfly, which has been visually spectacular and attracted eggs to be laid, along with common, tropical, and swamp milkweed. We brought the eggs inside and raised the baby cats until they were able to fend for themselves in the greenhouse. There seemed to be a lot of predators this year, judging from the baby cat holes in the milkweed. Any feedback?