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
Not a good year raising monarchs for me in Iowa. We were camp hosts at a State Park so I went what I call “ditch diving” for eggs or cats. Never found anything. I had one healthy milkweed plant at home and did find a few eggs. Only raised 3 healthy monarchs this year. I’m tagging right now and not seeing as many monarchs either. The purple clover fields where I usually tag are recently mowed. Not good…..worries me for these migrators. There’s a nice city park with zinnias where I’ve been going to tag.
I live in Los Alamitos CA. Got a late start on my 2nd year of raising Monarchs around July 4. Let about 20 go and am winding down the season. I had about the same number die from OE even though I started with fresh cages and milkweed. One eclosed crippled and another half formed from OE. Very sad. But one good point was a chrysalis that fell. I found it the next morning and pinned it up. The butterfly that emerged took the longest and I almost gave up on it. But she came out the biggest of all. I brought the cages in my bathroom when we had the rains and hurricane. My biggest problem was finding healthy milkweed reasonably priced. My outdoor plants brought ants and spiders. Can’t wait for our next butterfly adventure.
I live on the east central coast of Florida. This past spring I was bombed with 50+ eggs and no way to provide food for all of them, nor could I find anyone locally to assist. So I FedEx overnight shipped about 30 of them to my daughter in Columbus Ohio who had plenty of milkweed to sustain such numbers(she’s been doing this for many years)! Between the two of us we released about 90% of this brood. We’ve both continued to raise during the summer months( she has released significantly more than me), and I’ll try to get final #s later this year.
My second year of raising Monarchs in NW Pa. I’ve been growing five kinds of milkweed in my yard for five years and have plenty. I never saw a monarch until 7/17/23, I was getting worried. On July 30 I found my first eggs ever, I was so happy. I put them in a container, as Tony says to do, and watched my 10 eggs. Two eggs were on one leaf with the rest being all singles. Swamp weed had the most eggs with Common next. Three eggs never hatched, one I think got eaten by a hungry sibling and the other six all turned to cats and were later released as butterflies.
On 8/9/23 I added ten very small cats to my monarch motel. At this time I have two motels going, Motel 6, with the cats from the eggs and Motel 10 all cats. I kept the outside underneath a covered deck and secured them so they wouldn’t fly away in on of our many heavy rain storms.
Things went great with daily feedings and clean up thanks to Tony’s great advice. I had plenty of milkweed so I would only feed them the best leaves after washing them off good. My cats were PIGS, my feeding and morning clean up took longer and longer. I order more floral tubes & tube holders from Tony to help out with the chores. You can’t have enough tubes & holders so order extra.
Things started to slow down once they started to change to chrysalises. I had several that formed on my milkweed leaves and stems. One piece of Swamp weed had 3 chrysalises on it and one formed on the lip of a floral tube. I got pretty good at relocating chrysalis’s into another motel, now I have three going.
My first two butterflies emerged on Labor Day, I had six emerge the next day and six again the third day. It was exciting. My last two change on the forth day. One was from the egg and the other was from a cat. 27 days was the shortes and 38 days was the longest time it took to go from cat to butterfly. I released 10 females & 6 males, all were released the same day they emerged. 100%, last year I had 80%.
Thanks for the help Tony, couldn’t have done it or wouldn’t have done it without you.
We (my wife and I) raised a female and male in the large tower cage. Everything went well, once caterpillars were transferred to cage. I transferred large caterpillars that I knew were close to chrysalis formation. Plant holders worked well, I just need a large poo apron for large cage.
Do not release around dragonflies. As soon as one monarch flew about 30feet it was knocked out of the air by a dragonfly. We have a drainage pond nearby.
We now have 6 chrysalides in the tower and are at day 8.
Our ascelpius incarnata planted in 2022 is supporting a lot of caterpillars.
We have switchgrass planted next to one aesclepius and I have found chrysalides on it.
In Rogers, AR