Raising Book Resources
Raising Hope for the 2020 Migration- 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 2020 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 2020 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 early August, but monarchs raised at that time aren’t actually migration generation butterflies…they’re actually 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 guide digital guide with free updates (before each monarch season begins in spring) 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 seven seasons:
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 2020 Results
I am counting our 2020 migration generation as all butterflies that eclosed September 1st and after.
Caterpillar Escapes
Since using food container hatcheries for eggs and baby caterpillars, this has helped us to easily keep track of the wee cats until they can be placed in the larger mesh cages. We have not lost a caterpillar for years...
Unexplained Caterpillar Deaths
None to report in 2020
Caterpillar Diseases and Parasites?
There were no caterpillar disease issues to report in 2020. Check out a pre and post molt of one caterpillar graduating from instar 3 to instar 4:
Accidental Deaths?
There have been two accidental deaths this year...seems fitting for 2020. 🙃
1. This was an odd fluke that happened in an egg hatchery. There was one container with two eggs that looked like they might have fungus issues from the leaves I found them on.
After monitoring, I thought one of the eggs had succumbed to a rust-like fungus that was growing around it. Little did I know, the caterpillar had hatched and crawled under the paper towel that lined the hatchery....there was even a fresh milkweed leaf under the fungusy leaf piece.
This has never happened before so I was shocked to find the dead baby cat as I cleared out the hatchery.
2. On a cold morning in the 3-season porch (low was 40° F), I picked up the floral tube/racks (with milkweed and caterpillars) and walked it into the kitchen without using the boot tray. Two of the cold, lethargic caterpillars fell to the floor. I rescued one...and stepped on the other. 😔
Chrysalis Problems
Chrysalis formation was perfect this season. I conducted 6 removing/rehanging experiments this year: 3 chrysalides hung up with pins, 2 hung up on a microfiber cloth, and 1 taped to the floor:
All 6 butterflies eclosed with no issues and the butterflies were released to join the 2020 monarch migration. The last male emerged Sunday October 11th, and was released on Monday October 12th:
Butterfly Eclosures
All butterflies emerged from their monarch chrysalises without issue.
Final Results
2 accidental deaths
0 disease or parasite issues
0 unexplained death
4 healthy males
5 healthy females
82% survival rate
Lessons Learned?
Of the two caterpillar accidents that occurred this season, one was a fluke that will likely never happen again.
However, the 'stepping' accident could have been easily avoided if I would have just followed my own advice for caterpillar safety. If moving caterpillars outside of the cage, place them on a boot tray so they will never fall on the floor.
I also learned that keeping chrysalides in the 3 season porch at night (during the fall) is a bad idea for our northern region. Cool night time temps slowed down metamorphosis by at least a week, meaning the excellent window I had to release butterflies in warm weather, quickly shrunk to just a few days.
The chrysalises get plenty of exposure to natural lighting and temperatures during the day through open windows. If these monarchs would have been left to fend for themselves outside, their wintry fate would have been sealed...🥶
Also, my preferred way of rehanging chrysalides is pinning the silk to the top of the cage. Really though, all 3 methods work well, so do what you're most comfortable with when you need to rehang a chrysalis.
August 2020 Migration Memory
And now, here’s the part I’m most excited about…hearing about all the valuable lessons you learned raising monarchs over the past few weeks!
Share Your Results?!
Please share your results below by letting 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 2020
348 comments
I forgot to add, the 141 were released in Boulder, CO
I only counted the ones I successfully released. 141 total
14 of those were from eggs from the first releaee of 127
Of the 127, nearly equal males and females
Of the 14, 10 females and 4 males
Last bufferfly relesed Sept. 22 of the 14 that emerged late Aug. to Sept. for the migration
Good to read all the great results. I’m in Vermont and had a disastrous summer. Monarch sightings were down exponentially and I only saw 2-3, all summer, compared with a few dozen, last summer. Had about 15-20 hatchlings on potted swamp milkweed on my porch, plus three planted ones just off the porch. I had good results last summer and released 20-25, but this season, all but one were eaten by birds and grasshoppers. The one that made it enclosed 10/1 and it was raining and 32° outside that night, so I kept it in the garage in a mesh cage for about 30 hours. We had already had several nights of frost which destroyed all the flowers, so we drove the butterfly southwest about an hour and released it in a canola flower meadow, right next to another monarch. Three days ago, I saw another monarch off my back porch, which looked like it had just hatched. The bees were chasing it away from the only flowering plant – an aster bush – we have on our 5 acres. Then, before I could do anything, the wind carried it up and over the house and I haven’t been able to find it. So sad. And so worried about what Delta is doing to the fall migration.
Reporting from Ellicott City (central) Maryland:
21cats + 29eggs collected
9 deceased prior to chrysalis
3 deceased with wing issues
38 healthy releases between 8-14-20 to 10-5-20.
Approx 32 females; 6 males
Anthony -Thank you so much for all of your knowledge; products for the butterflies; making this blog available and your enthusiasm. I used all of these things both last year (68) and this year (38) to help raise the migration.
I have 2 24×24cubes; white racks and 16 fat floral tubes. I had a couple of chrysalis that lost their silk while I was trying to relocate. I place them in a shallow plastic bowl on a paper towel for grip as they enclosed. And then a made a stand for them to crawl up on to dry their wings by cutting apart a styrofoam cup. I was so excited when the butterflies climbed right up on it to dry their wings. Feeding was a challenge as I lost my native milkweed to rust. Luckily a friend had some common milkweed (also native to Maryland) that she was willing to share. It was a good year.
269 monarchs (133 Male, 136 Female) this year in Urbana, Illinois. It is my third year with a big crop, and I’m still learning things. 59 were released before August 15 and 210 after August 15 (likely migrating).
Overall success rate 87%, the best I’ve done yet. Of those released before August 15, it was a 100% success rate. I think overcrowding is the main source of loss, and mid-August to mid-September all of my cages were bursting.
I took in 20 large cats from our garden, and all 20 were healthy releases. They were quarantined in their own cages, and I think the isolation helped. The last two I found as big cats in the garden in late September, took them in while it was literally freezing outside, and released them in warmer weather on October 4 and 9.
All but the last were fed exclusively on common milkweed that I took from
a local park (most of it) and our garden (a little bit). Most of the eggs
I found on small climbing milkweed shoots in our garden, in our grass, and in
the grassy (mowed) areas in the local park. At the peak I found over 100 eggs
in a 9-day period, August 8-16. The biggest release day was Sept. 11, when
28 of them eclosed and were released, all healthy. A record for me.
Although I tried to limit to 10 per cage, at the peak this wasn’t possible even with 8 cages. I kept the eggs isolated until they became darkish, then put them on big leaves, no more than 6-8 per leaf. This helped, but I still had losses – some wandered off and never ate.
I worked hard to keep caterpillars of similar size together – prior years I
lost a lot when big cats would crawl over molting small ones. Once they are at 5th instar, you can put 20-25 in one cage and they don’t hurt each other. You can really hear them munching!
Of those I lost, none were to identifiable diseases. Most just stopped eating,
shriveled up and died. One chrysalis turned dark the 1st day, and one
butterfly emerged sick. Hardly any trichogamma wasps, compared with the huge
outbreak last year. No tachinid flies. Two eggs turned bright pink – I have no idea what that was.
What worked, what didn’t and lesson learned:
1. Milkweed source: I stuck with reliable sources, garden and a local park. Had
bad experiences with roadside milkweed and that from near cornfields prior years. No problems with tainted milkweed this year.
2. Chrysalides in inconvenient places – I’ve learned to just let them form, wait a day or two, and move them. I wound the silk pad on the end of a toothpick and such the other end through the mesh of the top of the cage and this worked well. Many chrysalises formed with the shed skin still attached. I just left it there and it was never a problem for the emerging butterfly.
3. Cages – the tall baby cubes are the best, but I only have four. I’ll order more next year. I had some small ones with milkweed plants poking the roof, hard to move in/out especially when full of caterpillars.
4. Tube holders. I like the white lattice ones best, even if some caterpillars make their chrysalis under them. The yellow spiked ones don’t hold the big tubes in very well and they are a hazard to falling cats.
5. Releasing. I had to keep a few batches overnight due to cold/rainy/windy weather. All were released the next day even if below 55 degrees (as long as it’s sunny). The key is to keep them warm inside the house so they gather energy, and then they take off like rockets. None of them wanted to be fed the next day, they just wanted to go!