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
This was my first year raising monarch caterpillars. It started by happenstance, right around the time of the shelter-in-place order in Northern California. I walked out to my backyard and found a milkweed plant (an adventitious planting) covered in caterpillars! I quickly learned about them, bought an enclosure, and started bringing them in on cuttings. The batch from March totaled 44 butterflies, 43 of which were released successfully. One we kept back because the chrysalis had fallen and the right forewing of that butterfly wasn’t strong enough for flight.
While I saw eggs and small caterpillars in the yard for a while after that, they seemed to all disappear. I finally got smart and started bringing them in as soon as I found them. In so doing I raised another 58. I’ve put the enclosure away for the season now, but the butterflies keep coming and there are caterpillars still in the backyard. I’m currently monitoring another four chrysalides hiding in various odd places, among them in my blueberry bush and right on the side of my redwood raised bed.
We raised a 10-cat batch early and, starting two weeks later, raised another 8. Trying to harvest fresh leaves for 10 giant cats was exhausting. We grew Green (Viridis) milkweed, a couple of volunteer tropical (from last year’s seed pods), a small pot of honey vine, and one exuberant, two-foot-tall Butterfly Weed (about 30 seed pods and still going strong). Cats that started on any plant other than Butterfly Weed disliked the Butterfly Weed. We taught a male to drink nectar from a jar lid using a round toothpick to uncurl its proboscis into the nectar. The toothpick was still around when we needed to transfer a cat from one place to another. We put the tip of the toothpick under the rear end of the cat and lifted. The cat hung on and made the transfer easily. As the cats matured, their resistance to being moved with the toothpick increased. With the second batch gone, we bleached our tools and put them away. Then we watched more cats grow and disappear from each of our plants. A really big cat disappeared yesterday, and a smaller one is still eating the Butterfly Milkweed today. The Green milkweed plants are putting on new growth after having been stripped, so there is hope for next year.
I raised monarchs from 1st and 2nd installs last year (in NYS /Hudson Valley zone 6b) and had (what I consider) pretty good luck (20 out of 40). This year I couldn’t take time out to rase any, but I have a large (100′×15′) butterfly/pollinator garden so I figured I’d just do what I could to make their lives good. I collected (and relocated) over 20 praying mantis egg cases. I keep the milkweed and butterfly bushes etc. in good shape. I kept a moving water birdbath clean. and I chased the cats away! I had TONS of Tiger Swallowtails(and Eastern Blacks and Spicebush) in July, but few Monarchs. I had notes that my peak of Monarchs for past 2 years was first and second weeks in August, so I didn’t worry. The Monarchs started picking up towards end of July, so I was hopeful, but then we were hit w/ Hurricane Isias and they were gone! The swallowtails came back, but Monarchs really never showed in full force, so I felt really bad that I didn’t try to raise any this year. BTW— even though I have tons of milkweed plants I can never find any eggs to collect and protect! : ( !! Any suggestions???
This was my third year raising Monarchs and I was actually afraid I wasn’t going to have any to raise. Didn’t see my first butterfly til almost mid-July. I added many more Milkweed plants to my garden so I would not run out like I almost did last year. I collected eggs on leaves this year mostly, but still also added the “cats” that I later found munching away on my MW plants. I had better success with the eggs vs “cats” brought in off the plants. I had several chrysalis die from Black Death, OE or Tachinid fly parasited. 3 of my Monarch Butterflies were born with deformed wings & could not fly. All things said, I released 97 Monarch Butterflies so far & have 10 chrysalis still that should eclose by Oct 11-13 at the latest. Hopefully, I’ll have released 107 healthy Monarchs by season’s end. I am from Lancaster, PA and hope to release even more next year. Thank you, Tony, for all your guidance. Carolyn Brown from Lancaster, PA
I have raised, tagged and released 69 monarchs so far. I brought several in as eggs. I have 7 more in chrysalis. I only tagged 1 wild monarch and this was intentional.
I lost 5 this year that emerged with wings that would not open properly. This was very discouraging but I am very happy at the number I’ve successfully raised this year. Georgia doesn’t have the large numbers that the midwest sees.
I spent a week this spring on the michoacana mountain range in Mexico observing the overwintering monarchs.
The 3 sanctuaries looked amazing even if it isn’t what it once had been. 2020 has been the year of “dreams coming true” for me.
Blessing to you all.