Raising Book Resources
Raising Hope for the 2024 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 2024 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 2024 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 milkweed 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:
2023- 89% Survival Rate
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 2024 Results
This seems to be a year of few monarchs for many, after a promising early start in May. Based on reports from the community, I have a couple of ideas on what has been negatively impacting the eastern population migration numbers in 2024:
- City mosquito spraying- these harmful chemicals pretty much destroy your entire garden ecosystem, including monarchs in all stages
- Excessive rains- paired with cooler temps this combo slows down metamorphosis and can also drown caterpillars that fall off plants.
- Late Migration?
On September 17th, 2024 there's more than a dozen migrators fluttering around our Minnesota garden. This is the most we've seen all season, so I'm hopeful this late summer weather, allows more butterflies to finish the life cycle and migrate.
For our lucky 7 this season...
Caterpillar Escapes
none 🥳
Unexplained Caterpillar Deaths
none 🥳
Caterpillar Diseases and Parasites?
none 🥳 We were lucky because we brought in two caterpillars this year and neither was parasitized by flies.
Accidental Deaths?
none 🥳
Chrysalis Problems
none 🥳
Butterfly Eclosure Issues
none 🥳
Final Results
Our totals are 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 7 monarchs...4 were unintentionally brought in after a wind storm knocked down a large stock of common milkweed. The other egg was accidentally brought in getting milkweed for the other 4. The final monarch caterpillars were brought in from our water feature swamp milkweed and a common milkweed growing through a crack in our deck.
So how many survived to reach butterhood?
The first female eclosed on Labor Day, the last male eclosed on a very sultry September 17th...87°F
0 accidental deaths
0 disease or parasite issues
0 unexplained deaths
6 healthy males
1 healthy female
100% survival rate (5 from egg, 2 from caterpillar)
Lessons Learned
We raised outdoors on our uncovered porch again, which I do not recommend because it adds dangerous factors that are out of your control including:
- extreme wind
- soaking rains
- cool night time temps (in northern regions this slows down metamorphosis)
- predator issues (some insects and animals can chew through cages, and stink bugs can harpoon caterpillars through mesh)
- pesticide drift (especially if neighbors or the city spray for mosquitoes)
To protect them from outdoors condition we:
- put the cage under pine tree branches to block rain
- put a clear tarp over the cage to bock rain, but let in more light (as opposed to a solid color tarp)
- put two pavers inside the cage so it wouldn't blow away
- put a flat rock on floral tube rack so it wouldn't blow over
You can easily expose monarchs to natural heat, light, and humidity (without extreme conditions) by raising them on a screened-in (or at least covered) porch and then you don't have to worry about taking extra precautions.
Migration Memories 2024
Two memories stand out during the 2024 migration season
1. Dueling hummingbirds (the OTHER migrators)- we typically have one hummingbird that claims our garden plants and feeder and challengers are chased off quickly.
This year's challenger would not be denied, so I've actually seen them feeding together in between car chase scenes...perhaps the garden is big enough for BOTH of them? 😅 Of course, getting them both on camera/video has proven more difficult.
2. Milkweed IN Water- last fall we left a milkweed container submerged in our water feature and this season, it came back, flowered, and was the milkweed plant I retrieved our final caterpillar from.
I typically don't bring in caterpillars but there were strong storms coming and our resident leopard frog was lurking below, which put our last caterpillar in double jeopardy...
Thankfully, we found the caterpillar before the frog did.
Unfortunately, Mr. (or Ms.?) frog did snatch a giant swallowtail butterfly from the lantana on the ledge of the water feature. To keep the feature from becoming a butterfly death trap, we moved a large mum to that ledge, and moved the butterfly-attracting lantana to our deck. Live and Learn 🦋🐸😱
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I hope you enjoyed reading about my Raise The Migration '24 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 2024
115 comments
I neglected to add my location. I’m in the Columbia area of Mid Missouri.
I raised and released 13 monarchs this year in 4 “cohorts” which was very different then last year (my first year). Last year I had two cohorts of 5 and 7.
This year I found the first group of 3 MUCH earlier (late June). They were first and second instar and developed very quickly (lots of 90+ degree days which is unusual in MA). They also eclosed more quickly than last year (9 or 10 days instead of 12). Two were female and one was male.
After they formed chrysalises I found 5 first instar caterpillars over three days. I put them in a second enclosure. When they were about to eclose their chrysalises turned VERY matte black. They stayed black for hours…not like the brief darkening I’d seen with the prior three groups. The first one I thought had black death or something. I carefully removed it using a clear sandwich bag for fear of spreading bacteria or parasites or something to the remaining green chrysalises. I did not discard it, just in case…I work remotely and had it on the table beside my computer. Sure enough, an hour later, I heard rustling and noticed a butterfly emerging in the bag! I attempted to pull the chrysalises out with her on it, but she grabbed my fingers instead so I held her for an hour before I felt confident transferring her to roof of the habitat to finish drying! She looked normal and moved well. The others I trusted would come out eventually when they also turned jet black and they did. Two were female and three were male.
The third group I found as 2 eggs and 3 caterpillars. The eggs hatched and I found two of the caterpillars the following day. Another day later I found a third, newly hatched caterpillar. The smallest caterpillar drown in a drop of condensation that developed between two leaves I had in a food container. I felt very badly for it! I try to keep the leaves separated and just enough moisture, but clearly there was too much. The remaining four developed and eclosed more slowly then the first two groups (cooler weather(. Their chrysalises did not turn so dark! All 4 were male.
The last caterpillar I found in early August. It survived a microburst that blew the cage over on my screened porch despite being wedged between two bricks (usually sufficient). I released her on September 4th.
The 8 cats I rescued from outside all just went to chrysalis today, 9/15/24. I believe I had exactly two monarch butterflies visit my yard and this group is from those monarchs. I have milkweed in various places all over the yard (mostly common but do have some swamp). This my first attempt to bring them in from outside. They live in my covered screened porch in a large butterfly enclosure. I have a few things I will do differently to make this easier to manage. I cleaned the enclosure twice daily. One is to get a poo platter and plant tubes with a rack. I was using a pyrex style glass container but worried about cats falling into the drink. So I covered most of the opening with plastic wrap. This has been a tough year on the garden. I have a wild and untamed flower garden with annuals and perennials. I also planted extra swamp milkweed but the excessive rains killed it off. So I will try again next year. The cats ate most of the one mature swamp plant I had. Always open to suggestions.
Disappointing season here in Ithaca, New York. I saw my first monarch sipping nectar yesterday – September 14. No sightings all summer. I raised and released four monarchs. Two were eggs and two were very small cats when I found them. To compare, last year (which I felt was disappointing) I released 12 butterflies. In 2022, the number was 24. My friends in the area who raise monarchs have had the same diminishing results. At least there were no casualties this year. I’m already looking forward to next year. Hopefully, the results will improve. Thanks for the knowledge and expertise you share.
As others have commented, we had very little Monarch activity at our location 30 miles north of New York City, but this has been the case for the past few years. Pollinator activity in general was down. Fortunately, we had brief stops in our milkweed patch from 3 pairs in July and August, I quickly gathered all the eggs I could find, and I released the last of 44 healthy butterflies on September 13. The last one had been a surprise large caterpillar that presented itself at the top of a tall swamp milkweed plant, and it became by far the largest butterfly of the 44.
The past 2 years milkweed wilting has been a big problem for me, no matter what I did to try to revive the cuttings—perhaps because of the hotter and wetter weather? —so I again abandoned cuttings in floral tubes, potted up my milkweed plants, and enclosed the pots in sandwich bags. It was harder to clean my mesh cages, especially when the now somewhat leggy milkweed had become taller than the cages and had to be bent down to fit, but the milkweed leaves stayed fresh. For my last batch of eggs, though, I decided to order a few milkweed plants from Joyful Butterfly as their plants have been large, fresh, and full in late summer, and the plants I received were the perfect height for the tall baby cube cages and also prompted the caterpillars to form their chrysalis on the cage ceiling instead of on milkweed leaves or stems. I have a couple of dish racks that work well when I need to hang a chrysalis formed on a leaf or stem (and I had a lot of these this year), but the cage ceiling is certainly better.