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 has been a new experience for me.
Loved doing it and look forward to next year!
The grandkids and I released 8 beautiful Monarchs 😊
My second yr. trying to help these beautiful creatures. One thing what is it about the black Chrysalids ? Most of mine were black and hatched just fine. Should I not have let them or what? Please advise. I found too many predators in my garden. I don’t know how any survived. I had some plants on my deck, that helped a lot, but most of them were at the top of our property. If anyone has any advice on getting rid of the predators I would like to hear it. That was my biggest problem next to raising any eggs. I tried, but they just kept dying so I wasn’t any help to them. I released about 30-the last one Sept. 30 I learned they are awesome and take a lot of work and it breaks your heart when you lose even one!
This was the first year we brought little little eggs and little caterpillars in and raise them and it was an incredible experience. I learned my husband was as interested in it as I was and it’s a wonderful stress reliever. What I learned was bring the eggs in not the big caterpillars in all I guess we had 14 and most of them were little eggs. But there were a few that we did bring in before we heard that advice. Out of the 14 we had two that died and don’t know why but we disposed of them after they spent a week in the freezer just in case. I learned how to clean the cages and transfer the cats to new stems and even the baby ones transfer usually by themselves after a while. It was an incredible privilege I looked over as I was sitting down to breakfast one morning and I saw something sticking out of this little chrysalis. Turned out it was a leg maybe two. I ran to get my camera and I have pictures of this thing breaking out of the chrysalis and watched it as it filled out its wings and turned into a butterfly. It was absolutely beautiful and it was very blessed to have seen it. Wake up the mall for 4 hours before we release them and they did well we have lots of flowers and most of them straight up in the air about 40 ft. The last one we let go was just born Saturday. I think he may be a little lonely because aren’t too many butterflies here at the moment we live in about an hour north of Indianapolis and Indiana. I have learned about what kind of milkweed to plant and we’re putting in a couple more groups of three or four plants. We never had a shortage of little eggs or caterpillars and they were just always there. Until some of them disappear. We have plenty of places for them to form a chrysalis on but I looked and I’ve not found anything. So I still wonder what happens. But we do know there were 12 that made it and they are flying free and beautiful. We’ll do it again next year. Tony thank you for your wonderful help your notes and emails are incredibly wonderful got them all printed I’m going to put them in a free ring binder and you think of everything. And thank you for helping us raise as disease-free and safe little caterpillars as possible.
Till next summer.
I successfully raised and released 128 monarch butterflies here in southwestern PA, 75 of them migration monarchs from Sept 1-28, 2020. My first monarch sighting was not until July7 and the number of all butterflies was lower than the past 2 years in spite of many, many milkweed plants in my gardens, common, swamp and tropical included. Most of the 75 were eggs, 1st and 2nd Instar, all successfully released EXCEPT for the late season 4th and 5th Instar which my husband presented to me, saying, “you can’t just let them out there for something to come and eat them”🙄. Those were the chrysalides I had to destroy because of disease….OE and tachnid fly.
I love having the ability to raise these wonderful creatures of God, it gives me a purpose in my older years and I love every one of them…….they listen to my banter all day, every day! Thank you, Tony, for educating us and making us want to learn more; fascination and wonder are good at any age,
I am waiting for Cat #4 and #5 to eclose Oct 5 or so, here in MO near St Louis. Do Monarchs wait til spring to eclose? If they come out in Oct I may arrange for them to be transported south to Springfield, MO area.