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
This is my second year of raising Monarchs. It started as a small project with my 9 year old granddaughter and soon grew to our passion. We live in Southern California so our Monarch do not have the same migration pattern. I spent the winter raising a variety of kinds of Milkweed hoping to have enough. There is never enough! I had 50 young plants from my seedlings, 3 larger plants that had made it through the winter and I purchased 12 plants from the local nursery. I have left the plants in pots so I can change them out in the butterfly tents as they get eaten down and let them regrow. Last year we released 46 Monarchs. Our goal was to reach 100 this year. Our season started on May 23rd when I released our first one of the year. I collect eggs and start them in the containers but always find babies that I had missed on the milkweed. Once they are big enough I move them to a plant in a net tent. By the end of June we had released 41. July was even better as we had some to release every day. By the end of July we had released 134. Up to that point we had a 98% success rate and I think the few losses we had were due to over crowding on the plants. Those guys really fight over food! August brought a whole different picture. I could easily find 30+ eggs a day but I am struggling to get the cats to survive. I know there were three with tachnid fly and several with OE, but others show no signs of either of those. I have also had several start to form the chrysalis but never complete it. I have tried to bleach and rinse the milkweed before putting cats on the plant and always bleach and rinse the tents between batches but nothing I do seems to make much difference. Others in my area are reporting the same issues. Within the last few weeks I have had 3 chrysalis look perfect but the butterflies came out with deformed wings and were not able to fly. One of them I kept in a separate tent with flowers for 6 weeks. She would come out and sit on my finger and walk around the yard with me each day but was unable to fly any distance. I am about ready to wrap up for the year as I don’t want to release weak or sick butterflies and it is to upsetting to see the caterpillars die. I have about a dozen caterpillars and one chrysalis left so we will see what happens to them but for now my total stands at 142 with 73 males and 69 females. Running out of milkweed was a constant issue. At one point I tried feeding the largest cats slices of acorn squash. I had read that they would eat pumpkin but you can’t find pumpkin at this time of year where I live. They actually ate it and I had 6 that made it to be released and seemed quite healthy. I think next year I am going to start a new experiment and keep most of the milkweed protected so the butterflies can’t get to it to spread OE and leave a few out for them to leave eggs on. I hope to find out if the death rate is because of disease or just that it is the end of the season in my area. One unrelated benefit of this adventure happened when I asked my daughter who teaches kindergarten to watch my collection while I was on a trip. She took them into her classroom and the entire school got to see the process from eggs to release. This summer she received pictures from the parent of a special needs student who had been so excited that he asked his parents to raise monarchs this summer. The picture was this little boy with the first monarch that had just eclosed. The smile on his face made everything worth it and a new generation of Monarch lovers is born.
August 27th. To date I have raised and released 33 magnificent healthy butterflies. There are two yet to eclose. Love the cages and tubes as they worked wonderfully well. Planted more milkweed in the hope for more eggs. I found it much easier to raise the ‘cats’ from
wee instar stages than from eggs. Most of mine came from a farm with sparse milkweed in the pastures. I had no issues with parasites or diseases this year. I will search one more time for cats before closing down shop for this year. Already can’t wait for next July!!
I started a few years back with my butterfly garden. This year because of construction, we had to rear down the garden. So I am now just redoing my garden, and can’t keep enough milkweed, I think they eat more than more boys did when they were growing up. But this is the first year I have every seen Queen caterpillars. I have now found my 4th one. I am so stoked and do not know where they are coming from. But wherever I can not wait to watch them get fat and spend their chrysalis . I will keep you updated. I also have pictures of them
2023 – mid/central Minnesota: we were in severe drought all summer. I have common and swamp milkweed and watered them all and pollinator plants. I had few female visits but a male kept hanging around for nectar. I think total there were about 30-35. I had 3 instar 1st died. 1 instar 3 died – unknown. 1 instar 1 disappeared. All but 2 are flying. One Monarch was newly eclosed when my cat knocked over the peanut butter jar I raise them in until eclose and it suffered wing damage so I am keeping him. My last chrysalis opened today but it’s too cool and windy and she is too small to fight the wind. She’s good for a day or two. I put cone flower and common boneset in the mesh cage for her. Mr Crinkles gets sugar water every morning and he is now going on 3 weeks. If I don’t get help next year this is it. I will concentrate on more nectar plants that bloom into late fall for next year. I have to contact my green house guy and see what he can get for me in Aster’s. I have my own page and will follow the migration and share wisdoms insights and articles to the page: Stephanie’s Minnesota Backyard Monarchs