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
This here was a little disappointing. Actually in time in June I found I found two caterpillars on one of our many no weed plants and went out and saw one and I went out and looked and found another one. They look like they were ready to go into their j. Looked for eggs to see any. Looked on several of our bushes and didn’t see anything or any that little typical leaf damage that shows you. There’s a little caterpillar around. It was usually in mid-july. We start getting butterflies monarchs and we didn’t see them this year until late August because the weekend of the 6th of September released 20 butterflies within 5 days and and I had seen a butterfly and gone outs where I saw her and we got six eggs from that one. It was really a bit disheartening because last year we let raise and let go 111 and we have enough milkweed for them. This year. As late as the caterpillars came, the milkweed was turning into what fall does to it. Leaves got tough change colors and caterpillars are very picky. At least this year’s group was very picky and you’d have five leaves and and a little container for the babies and I looked and there were five little caterpillars on one leaf and I’ve never had so much trouble with him not eating. Thankfully we had plenty and I spent a lot of time going back and trying from another Bush but that’s never happened before. We live in Lafayette, Indiana and I’ve been doing this. This was my sixth year and it was a little heartbreaking not to see the amounts of butterflies and there must have been a few but not very many because I would go out and check the leaves. Anne of the real fine leaves on some of the milkweed. They’re really easy to spot without literally looking through each leaf and there was evidence of some that had been there but those 28s we brought in or we actually saw two two butterflies. With the lateness of butterflies coming up this way. I was really disappointing cuz I saw more problems than we’ve ever had and we had 25 out of 30 that we brought in made it and we had two chrysalises that instead of dropping their black skin up at the top it fell from the bottom and it hung on by what look like a thin green thread coming from the Chrysalis. Couple days later I looked at the Chrysalis and it was obviously not a normal chrysalisa and I at that point just put the little one in a paper towel in the freezer and there was another one that did the same thing and I’ve not seen that before. We had BI a one that got stuck in the zipper. I know where there’s a double zipper. It was on the inside of the cage but between the two zippers and I did not see it and he got clipped and he made it up to the top and turned into a j but his Chrysalis was pretty bad so he also went into the freezer and we had one that just dropped to the cage floor. It had attached itself to the roof of the cage and we found it on on the bottom of the cage and not alive so we just never seen. I’ve never seen or had this many that die from not being right. Some of the butterflies when they eat closed. We’re obviously 5 in butterflies, big and beautiful and rare and to go and that is why I like to do this. I feel like I’m doing a little something even if it’s not much to to help. So I will do some research this winter about the milkweed and I don’t know what to do with the monarchs are so late. Thankfully we had about 10 or 12 plants at different stages. How many years the plants were and were taking out the 3 to 4-year-old plants and putting new ones and and hopefully this next season will be better and always. So I’m very grateful for Tony and Eric block and instructions. They’re so helpful and I think I have to say the biggest lesson was patience. We had so many of these little guys that wouldn’t eat what I brought in and we don’t use pesticides. Maybe our neighbors do we don’t and I have them in several different places in the yard so I was able to keep going out and actually it was four times in one day that they wouldn’t eat. I found myself getting frustrated but I don’t know what else to do except that I want them to live and so you keep trying and that’s my greatest lesson. I truly hope the next year will be better and if not we’ll do what we can and I love doing itI truly hope the next year will be better and if not we’ll do what we can and I love doing it
Reporting from north central Mn. There were plenty of eggs as usual for mid-May, however the wet spring had very few caterpillars survive both in the gardens and in my cages. I learned from my failures such as make sure my feline w/flea-tick meds on, stays clear of cages while I’m moving things around (I caught my feline rubbing against the cages; based on the early and pupation failure I’m pretty sure it was the flea meds….so frustrating!). After a rough early June, I started from scratch by thoroughly cleaning all supplies. July and August had successful release of 18 monarchs, though the last 5 I had to put chrysalises outside while on vacation, so no witness of genders. Of all my annuals in pots such as lantanas, several varieties of Salvias, and sunflowers, monarchs liked the Zinnias the best. There’s bee balm (wild bergamot), verbena, vervain, purple cone flower (echinaceas) and other wildflowers that I mix with annuals, and the butterflies always spend the most time at State Fair Zinnias. Of perennials the Liatris is first, favorite then hydrangeas. The common and swamp milkweeds had fewer blooms than usual; the A.tuberosa never flowered. I have plenty of asters, yarrow and golden rod still in bloom, but the migrators are preferring the hydrangeas and Zinnias, since the liatris is done. Sept 20th while out canoeing there were 14 monarchs in 45 mins that passed us heading south! Sept 26-28 now heading south and seeing 2-12 monarchs a day heading south through Mo, OK, Tx along I35.
This summer I raised and released a total of 75 monarchs, all from eggs I found in my yard. I found my first 4 eggs on May 31 on blooming common milkweed, releasing them on June 26. Since August 28, I have released 27 migratory monarchs. Today I released my last 4, a bittersweet experience!
This was a very successful summer with a 90% success rate. I didn’t lose any chrysalises or have any sick or deformed butterflies. I did have a horrible tragedy, however. The perimeter of my house was treated for ants on July 29. On August 2, I had 4 big caterpillars about to make their “J’s”, but they still needed more milkweed for overnight. So I quickly ran outside at 10:30 PM and picked them a nice cutting from close by. By late morning, all 4 were dead. I had completely forgotten about the ant treatment and the possibility of overspray. Heartbroken, I cut down any remaining milkweed growing near the house and only used milkweed from farther out in the yard after that. Next year, I will be very careful about using milkweed from near the house.
I had a great season. I released 140 before the migration and 474 for the migration. In addition to those numbers I gave over 250 just hatched cats to another friend to raise so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed.
I lost 11 cats and chrysalises to disease but those were cats that I found in various stages of growth and brought into my tents. I try to raise from the egg stage only. I feel that is why I successfully raised so many disease and parasite free. Also, the cats that I do bring in that I find I keep in a separate tent.
Its Sept. 27. I finally have a Monarch butterfly laying eggs on milkweed. Bryan, Texas