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
I’m in S. California. I have been raising Monarch’s for 8 years now. This year was very successful in releasing a total of 83 with One to Eclose tomorrow. All healthy and OE Free! (I test All before releasing) This will be the end of My raising for this year. I had a couple first time experiences this year. I only bring eggs in to raise, due to the Tfly being so prevalent here along with wasps.
I lost a few eggs due to wasps. For the first time this year, I had babies leave the leaf and wonder around the Cage. Thank goodness I have a Microfine glass that helped Me find the little Ones! I put a fresh leaf in front of Them and they crawled right on. I’m grateful for the newer Cages that have the extra screen so that they don’t get caught in the zipper when crawling around or They make it Their spot to pupate on. What brought My raising to an end this year was NPV. I’ve never experienced this problem before and it was heartbreaking. I had six that I euthanized in the freezer. They all made it to the last instar and stopped eating and pooping. I thought it was My Milkweed. But, all My Milkweed grown for raising is covered so Miss Monarch can’t lay eggs or spread OE on the plants. But, I changed the Milkweed and They still didn’t eat. They went a week and began to smell a a little fluid was on the leaves. They began to look deflated. I’d separated Them from the Other’s right away, so just in case They could infect the Other’s eating nearby.
Thankfully, the Other’s made it and all became Beautiful Monarch’s. I did a lot of research on NPV but a lot is not known what causes it. It’s somehow in the Catapillar from birth. I’m happy knowing I didn’t cause Them to die, but it was so heartbreaking to lose Six that My raising has come to an end this year. The lesson I learned from this year is to make sure My babies have a fresh leaf if the One They hatched on isn’t fresh. Because, They will go looking for better and finding Them isn’t easy!! 🧐 They are harder to find than an egg! I should mention that the new green Cage bottoms was very helpful in finding the babies that wondered off.
I do still have quite a bit of Milkweed left to raise a few more, but the aphids have Covid the plants I have exposed for Miss Monarch. I haven’t seen many Monarch’s lately. Possibly, due to temps over 100F. But, fingers crossed 🤞 I hope to raise a few more this year. Thank you Tony for all the new raising supplies to improve Our experience in Raising Monarch’s! ❤️🦋
First time raising Monarchs! I’m in southeast Michigan. I’ve raised 12 so far from a tiny egg and two were large cats taken from the wild near my house. I have released all of those. I currently have 5 chrysalis almost ready to open and 3 tiny baby caterpillars still munching away. So, hopefully I will have raised and released 20 healthy Monarchs for my first year!
I had ups and downs this year…first 17 healthy butterflies released from the eggs I found in my yard and then I kept going with eggs and wild caterpillars. I had a dozen very tiny cats in a seperate cage and left for the weekend leaving them I. The care of my sister. She didn’t mist the cage and they all cooked/died. I was heartbroken. We were still releasing a few here and there at the time. A friend asked me to take over a huge amount of cats and eggs as she was dealing with a sick dog. They almost ate me out of house and home but very quickly we had 42 chrysalids. I noticed something odd about her cats…they very very noise /vibration reactive. For instance if I would talk to my husband while feeding or cleaning them, they would all bob and jerk. This should have been an indication of trouble ahead…I had a couple never fully develop once the chrysalis process began but the worst would have to be the shear number of butterflies that fell as the ecased. If I was there I could hurry and get them hanging and all would be well . However it often happened when I wasn’t watching and I’d find it too late. I’ve never had so many deformed butterflies. I’m afraid I lost count of what I released and how many didn’t survive. I just suffered a very sad experience of a chrysalis that fell while still soft and I damaged the cremaster by trying too soon. It did develop and when it was time to ecase I stayed with it so I could hopefully get it up to hang. Then it stalled and I was sure it was dead. Only to find it the next morning mid way out… I helped it very gently but I suspect it had been struggling too long when I found it. It never fully unfurled its wings and is completely crippled. While this was happening I turned around to find another dropped butterfly. This one I got to in time and even got it’s wings uncurled. I released him today.
One other issue I noticed with these butterflies is that some of them looked completely normal but when releasing them, they flipped over repeatedly. Acting drunk. Almost all of them flew off eventually but it seems like more connected issues with these cats. It was certainly a very bumpy season for us but more successes than failures. I love urge new Poo Poo platters and tube holders and look forward to next season.
Very low numbers for monarchs and butterflies in general here in Northern VA. I have only successfully raised one out of maybe 15 this year. We have really only recently been seeing monarchs which is not typical – usually I am elbows deep in caterpillars at this time.
Just found large cat looks like in J cut stem bring in house for safety. Don’t know if that was a good idea? Still learning determined to keep trying. Would love to post picture. Will try. TY I’M in the midwest Hamilton illinois.