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
2020 e started a community project, “Mariposas del Mundo” to specifically support Monarchs #1 and Swallowtails. We have common, swamp & 1 other milkweed. I also planted 3 swamp milkweed in tubs on my deck. NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT. Now its 2021 and our FOY Monarch in the garden was a female on Julyn10.The end of July we started finding eggs on common milkweed and bringing them home. Last weekend we found 20 eggs on our potted milkweed. Today we had our first butterfly emerge, a male. The hurricane Henri is due to hit tomorrow, so we’ll release him after. We have 35 from eggs to a lot of 1st-2nd instar and some 3-5. We’ll tag 25 in September. We estimate many of those 1-2 instar will eclose approximately Sept 12th when we have our 1 year anniversary party, a community event! We estimate we’ll release 40. A friend nearby has released many in her 2nd year and will be over 100 this year. She’s going to try to get a tagging kit for September. We’re loving it & sharing with others. Her kids are totally engaged.
This is our third year raising monarch butterflies in Laguna Beach. We have released at least 4 dozen healthy monarchs this year and will have 2 dozen more before we’re done for the year. I feel the most important thing in raising caterpillars is hygiene. I use recommended cages and bleach them periodically and I change paper towels on poo poo trays twice a day if needed. I use tubes and cutting all clean and washed. Weak 0.06 % bleach solution on everything including cuttings. Then rinse well of course. ❤️🦋❤️🌴🌼
What did you mean – especially if milkweed is no longer viable? Area code 19335, Chester County PA, our milkweed developed a rust (?) black mold so we cut it back hoping for new growth. The gardens are now in a crisis mode because eggs are being laid and there’s not enough milkweed for the cats. Is this rust/mold what you’re referring to? Cats found yesterday were eating the seed pods on swamp milkweed. Our cats are lucky since we have habitats to move them to, but we are very anxious that we are missing some cats. Bottomline – should we have let the rust milkweed in the garden? Thank you!
Here on the east coast, we get monarchs in late August and usually chrysalises in mid- September. With the unusually warm weather we’ve had, my swamp milkweed lost all of its blooms early! We have other flowers planted to attract the monarchs but haven’t seen any sign of caterpillars yet! Very disappointing but I am encouraged by the amount of monarchs we’ve seen…so there is still hope! 🤞🏻
I learned that this is one big job! I had wild milkweed, but planted nine robust swamp milkweed at the edge of my garden.
Before I knew it, I had 11 cats but did not cage them. I then ordered a cage and took 17 through the stages and have released all but one which could not get out of its chrysalis. I have 43 more in a second cage and about 20 in the garden. I also have some in the native milkweed.
My biggest lesson was when one chrysalis lost its silk and I could not hand it from the cremaster. While I pondered what to do, I grabbed the chrysalis, which was pulsating in my hand, and put a bead of glue on top of the cremaster. I tied it with dental floss and a straight pin to the top of the cage.
When I went out to check on the chrysalis, it had hatched. I was so relieved.