Raising Book Resources
Raising Hope for the 2022 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 2022 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 2022 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:
2021- 86% Survival Rate
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 2022 Results
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
None in 2022
Caterpillar Diseases and Parasites?
None in 2022
Accidental Deaths?
None in 2022
Chrysalis Problems
None in 2022
Butterfly Eclosure Issues
None in 2022
Final Results
As you may know, we moved to a new location and we're starting to plant our perennial butterfly garden this fall 2022, so we raised very few monarchs this summer. However, we did have some wayward common milkweed plants, so we raised just a couple, but we raised them well. 😊
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.
2 monarch butterflies emerged from their chrysalides between August 28th and August 31:
0 accidental death (butterfly fall)
0 disease or parasite issues
0 unexplained deaths
0 healthy males
2 healthy females
100% survival rate
Lessons Learned?
I think the biggest lesson I learned this year had nothing to do with raising monarchs. 2022 was a year of extreme change for my family and raising butterflies was put on hold so we could focus on more important things, but that's life! I'm hoping to have more time for gardening and raising monarchs again next year.
My biggest raising lesson this season was that placing cages under the protection of trees works well in rain storms...the chrysalides went though a couple heavy rainstorms and didn't even start to come loose inside the cage. Still, I prefer raising in a porch that's 100% free of extreme weather. We are planning to raise monarchs in a new gazebo next season...
Migration Memory 2022
This is our first year with a new garden, and we have yet to make it our own. However, there have been a few highlights to the season:
- an abundance of phlox in shades of pink/white attracted many giant and tiger swallowtails, and hummingbird moths
- One night at dusk we went out and saw about a dozen large white-lined sphinx moths nectaring on the phlox...it was magical, and one night only
- Large flowered zinnias were the monarch favorites with a limited menu
- 6 Mexican Sunflowers (tithonia rotundifolia) purchased from a nursery, seem to have hybridized with (tithonia diversifolia) which was a POOR substitute for attracting monarchs and the first flower is yet to bloom ⌛️🦋🇲🇽
I hope you enjoyed reading about my Raise The Migration '22 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 2022
204 comments
My first yr. 33 🦋 (2 did not survive). Live is San Diego, CA saw lots of 🦋 starting in April & May. Stated bringing in eggs in May. Stopped bringing in cats because almost all died. Planning on growing more Milkweed so I don’t have to go to the Butterfly Farm and get more plants to keep them fed. What a joy a blessing to watch over them and see them fly to freedom. Loved it.
The backstory to my Monarch experience is lengthy, so today I’ll just report on this season.
First, I know next to nothing about them. This is the first year I’ve begun to educate myself on diseases, etc.
I’ve never found an egg, though I’ve ended up with more caterpillars in my ‘enclosures’ than I’d brought in.
My enclosures are a joke, but serve the purpose. Several big, empty plastic bins sitting on chairs around my living room! I take small-mouthed bottles, fill ‘em with water, stick in milkweed cuts and put the caterpillars on that milkweed. Yes, I end up with the chrysalides all over the room. It’s actually kind of fun but I’m often amazed that they make it as far as they do without my ever having stepped on one. Every other day, I lift the bottles out, set them on the counter, trim the ends of the milkweed, change the water and replenish what’s been devoured. I have to remember where I’ve spotted them all for their regular spritzing with water.
So far this year:
50 released
3 went dark but i now believe are dead.
2 dead by butterfly drop
1 fell while splitting
15 chrysalides remain; most have begun to go dark
1 emerged with a crippled wing
All this from only 3 butterflies in my garden this year!
Terrible, depressing season. We’ve had bad Gypsy moth infestations for the last 2-3 years and the area was sprayed with BTK, supposedly in early spring but I think it was later. In 6 years of raising Monarchs from eggs I have never before lost baby cats. My 1st egg hatched June 24th and baby died on the 26th. After that I had anywhere between 1 and 4 die daily until July 27th for a total of 36. They were usually between 2 and 5 days old. On that date I had 29 alive and lost no more.
Due to cold rainy weather I kept my last two butterflies in overnight and released them into sun and mid 60F this a.m. Final release 72 [40F and 32M] compared to 114 in 2021.
Cathy in Peterborough County, Ontario
We live in Northern Wisconsin on Lake Superior
2021 raised a total of 67 butterflies 32 females and 35 males
2022 raised a total of 54 butterflies 31 females and 23 males
2021 released 18 females in July 13 in August and 1 in September
2021 released 20 males in July 15 in August and 0 in September
2022 released 1 female in July 30 in August and 0 in September
2022 released 1 male in July 20 in August and 2 in September
This year was much more difficult to find monarch eggs, my grandchildren helped and we make the rounds in about a 5 mile area to find eggs, in 2021 we just found them on our own milkweed. This year the monarchs started much later than last year, we were almost giving up hope when we finally started finding eggs. Without my grandchildren, 8 and 10, to search I’d have found far fewer eggs than we did.
This is the 4th or 5th year I’ve been raising monarchs and it took a lot of searching compared to the other years to find the eggs. The caterpillars I found and brought in I lost almost 100%, they either died for no reason I could see or they died and we found they had worms that came out. Most of the eggs we had excellent success with. I did lose a few, I left the mesh enclosure outside one day because I released 2 butterflies and there was another going to hatch. Unfortunately I had 2 that died when I left them outside, the wind and sun dried the chrysalis and they were unable to hatch. 1 started to come out of the chrysalis but could not come out completely, I very carefully helped it get out but it had been too long and it was unable to expand it’s wings. I ended up euthanizing the poor thing, it’s legs were affected also and it couldn’t hang onto the mesh cage. The other never did emerge from the chrysalis.
My grandchildren also raised some and when they were on vacation I “babysat” for one week and let 13 of theirs go – those are not included in my total. I know they had quite a few more than that but they don’t keep track of them.
We did well considering how hard it was to collect eggs but I’m sure hoping next year starts earlier and there are more than there were this year.
Massachusetts – raised and released 27. Half males half females. Mainly from eggs gathered at home about 20 plants.
Only lost 1 to T fly.
Kept each stage in separate containers then enclosures.
Fresh milkweed washed and inspected with magnifying glass before serving.
6 cats max per enclosures.