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
Last year raised 37 monarchs. This year only 7, but today I found 6 eggs!
Not too exciting this year. Raised 7, four females and three males. All were brought in as 1st instars. No eggs this year. Tons of milkweed available. Had one in chrysalis that did not survive. I used the tubes with the rack along with glasses with the cuttings. Both worked well. Just a bit sad that in past years I raised from eggs 35-45. Even though NJ is in a drought I made sure perennials were watered. I have plenty of food here for the northern migrators.
I was able to raise 31 caterpillars this year. I lost one chrysalis. I’ve release all but one. He has cocooned and should be ready in a few days. What I’ve learned:
Clean all milkweed leaves before feeding
On hot days, spray the contained milkweed and caterpillars with a spritz of water
We made our own butterfly hut and I cleaned it twice a day
I’m in northeast Florida and this was my third year of raising the monarchs. I felt that this year was very successful as I released 40 – 45. Our problem is not only wasps but lizards (some of them ate through the mesh cage!) so I had to be quick to grab and cage the eggs in a more secure cage. I had very few deaths and I think I owe that to bringing in only eggs and having each group be pretty much on the same schedule. I overdid it year one by mixing in caterpillars with eggs and I think that may have introduced some bacterial issues. I don’t feel that we had as many monarchs this year but we had plenty of eggs. I also raised and released 6 swallowtails from eggs I found (and almost ate) on a fennel plant. Looking forward to next year!
I’m in the Indianapolis area and have raised and released monarchs for about 5 years. This year was the most disappointing year yet. I have 10-15 stalks of common milkweed in my garden along with other pollinator attracting flowers. I did have one day where I had an egg bomb and got like 50 eggs at once. Had about a 75% survival rate of those eggs. At this point I’ve released 28 butterflies and have 4 in chrysalis and 3 as caterpillars. This is less than half of what I had last year. I’ve been very concerned. One thing I did this year was to buy a microscope to test for OE. The last 3 I had were all positive for OE. I will clean all my equipment extra well before I put it away this year and be more diligent next year in bleaching eggs. I struggle with testing for OE because it’s so depressing if it’s positive but I understand that is helping the overall population if I test and address it. I really hope next year’s population is higher in Indiana. I know I saw across the Midwest that the population was low. Don’t understand why though.