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
I live in a western Chicago suburb. I grow swamp milkweed and supplement with common milkweed from local forest preserves. Much to my disappointment, the forest preserves have very little milkweed even though much more land is now prairie rather than mowed. So I collected common milkweed pods in northern MN while on a fishing trip and distributed them in my forest preserves.
This year I released 119 healthy monarchs, up from the 84 last year. Eight chrysallides were unsuccessful, 3 of them definitely diseased. I’ll be much more careful next year. My success rate was 94%. Many friends now ask how my monarchs are doing and some are planting milkweed in their gardens.
10/6/22 Just released my last two monarchs. Also included one that was wild and I brought it in overnight in case the temperature was too cool. Final count was 19 females and 13 males. Two males hatched with injured wings so they did not fly. Lost about 8 caterpillars in different stages – they would be eating fine and then drop to the cage floor and die. Monarchs arrived late this year. First egg found was 7/9/22. Last year I raised most of the caterpillars in a screened playhouse but this year with the heat, I decided to raise most of them indoors (which I don’t really care to do). I use numerous cages and use a bleach solution before placing new caterpillars in the cage. This year the total count was low which might have been due to the late arrival. I think more people are becoming aware of the monarch’s plight as I have been asked for milkweed seeds and plants. Mishawaka, IN
This was my first year raising monarchs in Fayston, VT. I would up releasing 105 healthy monarchs (65 Females + 40 Males). I had a few accidental caterpillar deaths and a few lost chrysalides from one of my enclosures blowing over during a storm. I also had about 6 chrysalides turn dark and not eclose at the end but I think they might have gotten too cold. It was a lot of work cleaning the two enclosures I had every day and making sure all my cats had fresh milkweed. I also found I needed a 3rd enclosure because the top was getting crowded with chrysalides and the fat 5 cats were walking all over them. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I’m so glad I was able to contribute to this cause! Maybe next year I’ll get a small enclosure and do some Eastern Swallowtails too. I saw a few on my carrots.
This is year 6 for me raising. I have lots of milkweed in my yard so it is easy to find eggs and sometimes caterpillars. I released 234 this summer with 122 females and 112 males. New things I learned is to plant perennials in my large milkweed patch to attract more female monarchs and not as many predators. Hope this works next year. Who knew? I also began using a dry piece of paper towel in the baby containers instead of a moist piece. Didn’t lose any. I had 16 die because of tachnid flies laying their eggs in my caterpillars. Hate them. Lost 6 cats due to unknown causes for a 97% success rate. Already looking forward to next year!
Forgot to mention in my former message that as I was cleaning the cages one day, unknown to me, I must have thrown out one of the small cats. I leave the trash under the table on the porch for a few days, just in case, and sure enough she found her way under the tabletop and made her chrysalis. So I left it there and watched for her to emerge. So be very vigilant when cleaning so you don’t lose any of your babies. Ruth Anne Schneck, Waterloo, Iowa