Raising Book Resources
Raising Hope for the 2023 Monarch Migration- Share Your 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 2023 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 2023 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 how to raise monarchs book (choose paperback or PDF download) 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:
2022- 100% Survival Rate
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 2023 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 a few years back when I forgot to close a cage door and found a caterpillar crawling on top of the cage. 🐛 😱
Unexplained Caterpillar Deaths
None
Caterpillar Diseases and Parasites?
None
Accidental Deaths?
I carelessly removed a small caterpillar that was getting ready to molt inside the plastic food container. It was not able to fully shed its skin and did not survive.
Chrysalis Problems
None
Butterfly Eclosure Issues
None
Final Results
Our totals will be taken from all eggs that have successfully hatched in our care. We don't count eggs that were parasitized outside or monarchs brought in as caterpillars because they could have parasites too.
This year, we ended up with 9 migration generation monarchs...all have been 'unintentional' after pulling wayward egg-upied common milkweed coming up in the lawn.
So how many survived to reach butterhood?
1 accidental death
0 disease or parasite issues
0 unexplained deaths
3 healthy males
5 healthy females
89% survival rate
Lessons Learned
There have been a few lessons learned throughout this season and it's the result of having a new outdoor raising setup.
In past seasons, we raised in a 3-season porch with the windows open, which protected growing monarchs from extreme weather, while still exposing them to environmental cues telling them to migrate. This year, we raised outdoors and barely avoided a couple catastrophes:
- Protect the cage from heavy rains above- we did this by placing the cage on a bench under an evergreen. On the other side of the deck, we place cages under the awning (prevents drownings and falling chrysalides)
- If heavy rain is forecast, consider removing the poo poo platter so rain doesn't pool on the cage floor (prevents drownings)
- Protect monarchs from strong winds- we ended up using two paver bricks in each cage (prevents cages from falling or blowing away)
- Crowded Caterpillars often Pupate on Milkweed Leaves- We used smaller cages this season and having to use two pavers inside each minimized space which made plant leaves too enticing to form chrysalides
- If a caterpillar pupates on a leaf that's OK, but separate it from feeding caterpillars (prevents chrysalis from falling to floor if leaf gets eaten)
- Use your magnifier- our lone accidental death of '23 could have been prevented if I used it to see that a small caterpillar I moved was actually molting. (When you see better, you do better!)
- Keep Cages away from Predators- we have been lucky with insects and larger predators chewing through the cage to this point, but there is always a greater chance you will have issues with an outdoor raising setup
We were very lucky this season was a success. On a windy night, the cage nearly blew off the table it was on becuase I was using rocks instead of the heavier paver bricks to secure the stage. This could have severely injured or killed most of our brood
I much prefer the indoor setup with exposure to natural outdoor conditions. We will be investing in a greenhouse or arboretum for raising purposes next season and will keep you posted.
Migration Memories 2023
Our Mexican sunflowers were a big hit with migrating monarchs, swallowtails, hummingbirds, and bees this season. Here's a Minnesota Migration Moment from early September:
...and here's our final release monarch female stocking up on nectar September 20th:
I hope you enjoyed reading about my Raise The Migration '23 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 at the bottom of this page and let 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 2023
189 comments
Last year I cared for and released 132 Monarchs and was going to try to find release 150 this year. I am saddened to only have found 7 eggs which I was able to care for and release. I live in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I think many Monarchs were lost on their way here last spring because of 3 different major storms. I am worried about the very low number. Would like to hear if others have had this problem.
I live in Central New York. This is my first year raising Monarchs. I did not find a lot of Monarch eggs. I started mostly from Instar 1 or 2 caterpillars that we found on our milkweed plants. I started with 8 caterpillars and released 8 Monarchs; 4 males and 4 females. It was a great experience!
We noticed that there are much fewer Monarchs in our area than even last year. I hope our small efforts pay off. We will defiantly be doing this again next year and will get our 4-H Club involved in our “Monarch Adventures!”
I live in NW Indiana, raising monarchs for 6 years. I raise outdoors, I intervene if a caterpillar or chrysalis are endanger. I have 2 gardens with milkweed. The monarchs prefer the garden in front of my covered porch, where I have 2 swamp milkweed plants. It’s very easy to watch over, keeping an eye on caterpillars and when they’re ready to leave to find a spot in the garden, porch or along the front of the house. I have a big habitat, open at the top. Works good for chrysalis tied to branches, not so good for caterpillars. I found out last year. This year I bought the tall baby habitat I keep the habitats on the covered porch, protected from rain. This year started out good, so I thought. I did notice small flies around the milkweed. Then between July 26 to July 29, I lost 7 chrysalis and 4 J’d caterpillars found oozing and maggots. My 1st lesson in tachinid flies, I just read about in the newsletter. By the time I saw caterpillars again, there were no flies. But an abundance of caterpillars. I relocated large caterpillars to the new habitat, after chrysalis, relocated to branches in the big habitat and repeated. There were so many caterpillars the plants were stripped. I bought another swamp milkweed and dug up one from my other garden, potted it. Moving lg. caterpillars to the habitat, others to the plants. They stripped these 2 plants in 2 1/2 days. I went out and picked leaves off common milkweed plants to finish feeding the caterpillars. I raised 67 monarchs, released or flew away 66 monarchs. One monarch had a bent and wrinkle left wing. I couldn’t euthanize. I raised in the habitat and took out twice a day for flying exercise. Surprisingly his flying improved daily. After 10 days the butterfly was able to fly away. Will he make migration, no. But he gets to enjoy butterfly life.
Hi Tony! I am from northern Bergen County, NJ. I live along the Ramapo River, nestled against deep forest. I let go my 5 precious, huge, healthy Monarchs on this glorious morning. 3 Females & 2 Males. It has been dismal since my first raising year 2021 in which I raised 102. 2022 brought me only 14, and 2023 only 5. (I have only had two failures in 3 years, all the rest flew away.) I have LOTS of milkweed (common & swamp are my perennials, and annual tropical) I did not see any Monarchs in northern NJ at all this summer until the one that showed up 30 days ago. She was NOT egg dumping like happened in 2021. I have seen a good number of Swallowtails, Admiral Skippers, and Fritillaries. and an occasional Blue-Blacks. No painted Ladies.
We need to fix our environment or we will lose our beloved Monarchs. I brought in my baby pillars at 2 days old. All were found on the Swamp Milkweed in large pots on my deck. Never a predator on my deck. I grow all my own milkweed from each last year’s seeds. Swamp happily loves a large deep pot. Morning sun and afternoon shade is a must. It was too hot this summer. I found myself sheltering all of my plants from too much sun and pounding rain that tore buds and heads off my nectar flowers. The rain this summer was scary, how forceful it was. How will a butterfly survive that!
My raising tip … I love early morning with my pillars. (They and their habitat get cleaned twice a day.) In the morning, I awaken them with some tepid water mist…. “c’mon get up, you have eating to do!” They perk up their antennas. Stick their little faces high into the air. Smelling morning. They absolutely love their morning bath, everyday!
Thank you for keeping us so well informed through the year on what to do, trouble shoot, all things Monarch.
This year, I had a record number of butterflies to release. 426!!! With 4 more still in the chrysalis!